With Over 6000 Contempt Pleas Pending, HC Fumes At Babus

• Says Justice Dispensation System Reduced To ‘Cruel Joke’ In J&K
• Puts Bureaucracy On Guard: ‘It Shall No Longer Be Tolerated’    

Srinagar- The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has come down heavily on administration over non-compliance with its directions, observing that the justice dispensation system has been reduced to a “cruel joke” in Jammu and Kashmir amid piling of over 6000 contempt petitions before it.

 “This reflects a shocking scenario where the Executive is ignoring the orders passed by this Court consistently with utter disdain, cocky that this Court shall take no measures imperilling their liberty for their disobedience,” a division bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Javed Iqbal Wani said while hearing a contempt plea.

 “This environment has come to exist on account of the excessive latitude being shown by this Court, time and again, only to maintain a harmonious relationship between the judiciary and the executive,” the court said and put the bureaucracy “on guard” that “what has been happening till now with the orders of this Court shall no longer be tolerated.”

 “The number of contempt petitions pending before the High Court as on date is a little over six thousand. In other words, there are at least six thousand litigants in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir who despite having orders in their favour are unable to savour the benefit of these orders,” the court underlined.

In some cases, the court observed, there may be more than one petitioner in a contempt petition which would raise the number of persons awaiting the benefit of the court’s orders, phenomenally above six thousand.

 “A few of these contempt matters are pending between ten to fifteen years and the cases pending between one to five years are the ones that run into thousands and has reduced the justice dispensation system in the UT to a cruel joke,” the court said.

A contempt case, the court underscored, must be concluded ideally in three to five hearings in which the order is complied with, or “there is no need to comply with it as the superior Court or the larger bench has stayed or set aside the principal order itself, or the contemnor is punished in accordance with law.”

A “tradition” existed where the contemnors were given repeated adjournments, a multitude of “statement of facts” and “reports” were called for resulting in contempt petitions pending for four to five years, the court said. But traditions are what things were, the court said and warned: “If contempt cases are to linger on inordinately without compliance, the very existence of this Court is meaningless.”

The “couldn’t careless” attitude of the executive gives an impression that the court has to resort to firm measures to ensure that the orders passed by it and by other courts judicially inferior to the High Court, are complied with in letter and spirit and are taken more seriously than the way it has been till date, the Division Bench said.

 “In order to restore a semblance of sanity by achieving compliance of its orders, this Court has to take precipitate measures and shall not hesitate to do so,” the court said, adding, “It is, however, recording these observations herein so that the UT and the bureaucracy is put on guard that what has been happening till now with the orders of this Court shall no longer be tolerated.”

Once an order is passed, the court underlined, it shall be complied with in letter and spirit, stayed or set aside by a superior Court or a larger bench or, “the contemnor be prepared to face the consequences for contempt of Court.”

The court’s hard-hitting observations followed inconsistency in the statement made by Advocate General and J&K’s Law Secretary over non-appearance of Chief Secretary through Video Conferencing before it with regard to a contempt plea.    

In fact, the court had directed the contemnors being the Chief Secretary, Finance Secretary, Secretary GAD and Secretary PWD R&B to join the proceedings through Video Conferencing in order to obviate the inconvenience to them of personally appearing before the Court to answer the charge of contempt.

While the Principal Secretary, Finance and the Secretary PWD R&B joined the proceedings through Video Conferencing, the secretary GAD did not join as he was on leave.

 “As regards the Chief Secretary, the Advocate General, as per instructions received by him, informed this Court that the Chief Secretary is desirous to join the proceedings and is in the process of joining the Video Conference in a few minutes and the delay was solely on account of connectivity issues,” the court observed. However, that never happened, the court observed. “A short while later, the Law Secretary Achal Sethi appeared through Video Conferencing and informed the Court that the Chief Secretary is unable to appear through Video Conferencing as he is busy in a meeting.

 “As of now, this Court is unable to ascertain as to who is lying, whether it is the person who informed the Ld. Advocate General that the Chief Secretary is keen to join the proceedings and shall do so in a few moments or whether it was the Law Secretary who was instructed to state incorrectly on behalf of the Chief Secretary,” the court said, emphasising that both these versions were starkly disparate and in gross contradiction to each other.

 “From the manner in which the Union Territory Government has conducted itself, it is clear that there is an absolute lack of sincerity of purpose on its part to comply with the order passed by this Court. It reflects a sorry state of affairs that exists in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with regard to judicial proceedings and judicial orders,” the court said and ordered all the four “contemnors” to remain present in person before it on the next date of hearing on August 8.

 “If any of them does not comply with the direction for personal appearance on 08/08/2024, this Court shall resort to coercive measures to secure their presence,” the court added.

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