Court Orders Are Cared For Only When Personal Appearance Of Officer Is Called: Allahabad High Court Raps State

On Monday, the Allahabad High Court rapped the officials of the State Government by observing that court orders were not being followed even after issuance of notice of contempt, unless personal appearance of officer concerned was ordered by the Court.The bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Jaspreet Singh observed,“The attitude of the officers, in ignoring the orders passed by the Court till such time that notices in the contempt petition are issued, cannot be approved. On many occasions, despite issuance of notices in contempt petition, no action is taken and it is only when the directions are issued for personal presence that for the first time, the officers care for the orders passed by the Court. There are hardly any appeals which are filed without application seeking condonation of delay, which conduct on part of the appellants cannot be appreciated/encouraged.”The Court was dealing with a special appeal filed by the State against the order of a single judge whereby the State was directed to permit respondents to continue in employment along with payment of arrears of salary. State filed an appeal against the said order with a delay of 345 days. In the application for condonation of delay, administrative reasons were given for justifying the delay in filing the appeal. It was prayed that the delay was unintentional, genuine and bona fide. Per contra, respondent in his objection pleaded that the story by the State was concocted. It was argued that cognizance of the order was taken for the first time after 6 months of its date. The Court observed that though after the judgment was passed, the State claimed to have sought opinions of Standing Counsel and Chief Standing Counsel, no such opinion or request seeking opinion was placed on record. It also observed that the delay in seeking and providing opinions and the need for second opinions was not explained. “In the entire affidavit, there is no intention to indicate the sufficient cause for seeking condonation of delay, only formality of indicating dates has been fulfilled and thereafter, sermons on the working of the Government have been indicated that it took time in completing the administrative formalities by following certain norms and procedure of 'disciplined and systematic performance of official functions' and that among the several factors on which depend the time consumed in process, there are 'certain unavoidable and unspoken circumstances'.”The Court observed that the limitation prescribed in the Limitation Act was being taken for granted by the State and the appellants approached the High Court only after notices were issued in contempt petition filed by the respondents. Declining to accept the delay condonation application, the Court dismissed the appeal as barred by limitation. Case Title: State of U.P. through its Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Basic Education, Government of U.P., Lucknow and others v. Jai Singh and others [ SPECIAL APPEAL DEFECTIVE No. - 276 of 2024]Click Here To Read/Download Order

Court Orders Are Cared For Only When Personal Appearance Of Officer Is Called: Allahabad High Court Raps State

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