NEW DELHI, 29 October 2003 — The Patna High Court continues to censure Bihar officials for contempt and is threatening to summon the entire Cabinet if the government fails to comply with the court’s orders.
On Friday, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Ravi S. Dhawan and Justice Sashank Kumar Singh said the government’s conduct amounted to “fiddling while Rome burns.” The court is furious over the government’s failure to ensure early disbursement of 500 million rupees to public sector employees who have not been paid for years.
The same day the court imposed a penalty of 2,000 rupees on Secretary for Primary Education Anil Kumar Singh for failure to comply with the court’s order. On the directive of the court, 86 vacancies in the department were to be filled from a panel prepared in 1992.
Last Thursday, the court indicted the state government for non-compliance in contempt of court cases and warned that if they were not respected then the division bench would summon the entire Cabinet, including the chief minister.
“The high court doesn’t come under the chief minister or her Cabinet. But they certainly come under the high court. So the court may be compelled to summon the entire Cabinet to explain why the court’s orders were not complied with,” said Justice R.S. Garg while hearing a contempt of court matter.
The state government has taken exception to the remark. Panchayati Raj Minister Upendra Prasad Verma said that if the high court summoned the entire Cabinet then the government will approach the Supreme Court. Chief Minister Rabri Devi too had earlier complained that the high court was trying to rule the state.
On the directive of the Supreme Court, the Bihar government had deposited 500 million rupees for distribution among the public sector employees.
To disburse the amount the court constituted a three-member committee under a retired judge. However, six months have elapsed and the money has not been distributed because the state government failed to provide infrastructure to the committee.
In the six months the money has been lying idle more than 29 employees died and others suffered. “The employees are dying of hunger... But the state government is sitting pretty and not even providing an office and secretarial staff to the committee,” the high court division bench said.
