The Hindu : National : Supreme Court raps bureaucracy

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Thursday, Oct 21, 2004

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National

Supreme Court raps bureaucracy

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 20. The Supreme Court has pulled up the top bureaucracy for flouting its orders with impunity by circumventing them and trying to justify their actions.

A Bench of Justice B.N. Agrawal and Justice A.K. Mathur said: ``This shows complete lack of grace in accepting the orders of the court. This tendency of undermining the court's order cannot be countenanced. This court has time and again emphasised that in a democracy the role of the court cannot be subservient to the administrative fiat.''

The Bench reminded the bureaucracy that ``the Executive and Legislature has to work within the constitutional framework and the judiciary has been given a role of watchdog... ''

``If the orders of the court are flouted like this, people will lose faith in courts. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with such type of violation of court's orders with strong hands and to convey to the authorities that the courts are not going to take things lightly." The Bench passed this order while imposing a fine of Rs. 5,000 on E.T. Sunup, then Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Government of Nagaland, for deliberately and wilfully ignoring the orders of the Guwahati High Court that had sentenced him to one-month imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 for contempt of court. On a special leave petition by the officer against the judgment, the apex court declined his contention that mercy be shown to him by accepting his apology.However, considering his career record, the Bench said it did not want to impose the sentence of imprisonment.

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