Why has SC summoned top babus of 16 states?

July 11, 2024 17:07

The Supreme Court on Thursday summoned the chief and finance secretaries of 16 states for non-compliance of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission recommendations on the payment of arrears of pension and other retirement benefits to the judicial officers.

Expressing strong displeasure over non-compliance of the SNJPC's recommendations, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said, "We know how to extract compliance now. If we just say that the chief secretary will be present if the affidavit is not filed then it will not be filed. "We are not sending them to jail but let them be here and then an affidavit will be submitted. Let they be personally present now," the bench said. Though seven opportunities have been granted to the states, it appears that full compliance has not been affected and several states are in default, it said.

"The chief and finance secretaries have to be personally present. Failing compliance, the court will be constrained to initiate contempt," it said.

According to the order, the bench directed the top two bureaucrats of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Manipur, Odisha and Rajasthan to appear before it on August 23.

The bench made clear that it will not grant any more more extensions. It passed the orders after taking note of the submissions and perusing the note provided by lawyer K Parmeswar who is assisting the court as amicus curiae (a friend of court).

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

LIVE! 'As PM, I cannot let any Indian go without food'

'History Will Remember Him With Gratitude'

'During his stint as prime minister, he got 270 million people out of poverty.''This, according to the World Bank, is the fastest compression of poverty anywhere in the world.'Arvind Mayaram, the former finance secretary, recalls his...

When SC stayed summons for Manmohan in coal case

Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was summoned as an accused in a coal block allocation case, but the Supreme Court intervened and stayed the directive. Singh, a renowned economist and politician, questioned the absence of...

Where Would India Be Without Dr Singh?

What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister.Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the...

Kohli's Brain Fade: How India Lost Plot

Those three wickets for six runs, in a manic final 15 minutes of the day's play, undid all the good work that had gone before, asserts Prem Panicker.