Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 21: Adopting casual approach towards the repeated and clear directives, the Deputy Commissioners and other functionaries of the Government have not been filing compliance reports on time in various Public Interest Litigations and this has been taken very seriously by the State High Court, which has warned to direct personal appearance of such officers in future.
The non-serious approach of the Deputy Commissioners and other officers towards filing replies/status/compliance reports in various Public Interest Litigations (PILs) and subsequent embarrassment to the Government was brought to the notice of the Government by the Advocate General vide its Letter No.AGI-911 dated July 25, 2013.
Accordingly, the General Administration Department vide Circular No.15-GAD dated August 7, 2013 impressed upon all the Administrative Secretaries, Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Heads of Departments and Managing Directors of various Boards, Public Sector Undertakings and Corporations to file reply affidavits/compliance reports/ action taken reports in respect of various PILs before the High Court well before the date of hearing.
The Secretary, General Administration Department, M A Bukhari even conveyed in explicit terms that the Law Officers of the concerned departments should keep close liaison with the office of Advocate General to avoid any delay in filing responses in the High Court failing which they will be held responsible and action initiated against them in accordance with rules.
However, neither Deputy Commissioners nor other officers have mended their ways till date resulting into either non-filing or inordinate delays in filing of compliance/status reports in the PILs. “Their scant regard to directives of the Government as well as concern expressed by the Advocate General is resulting into embarrassment for the top officers including the Chief Secretary as due to failure to file response on time, adverse orders are issued by the High Court”, sources said.
Taking serious note of such a casual approach of the Deputy Commissioners and other functionaries of the Government, the High Court has recently observed, “having regard to track record of all the Deputy Commissioners in delaying compliance, judiciary would be constrained to direct their personal appearance, in the event compliance report is not filed within the given timeframe”.
In view of the ‘warning’ of the High Court, the Advocate General has once again brought to the notice of Government that Deputy Commissioners and other functionaries are filing compliance reports in various PILs on the date of hearing which has been taken exception to by the High Court. He has also informed the Government that belated replies/status reports are not accepted by the Registry of the Court.
Now, the General Administration Department has once again impressed upon all the concerned to strictly adhere to the instructions issued vide Circular No.15-GAD dated August 7, 2013 and ensure that the compliance reports are filed before the High Court at least one week before the date of hearing.
“Any clarification with regard to the date of hearing or any other matter related can be obtained from the office of the Advocate General at Jammu/Srinagar”, the GAD said.
It is pertinent to mention here that High Court has already issued notices to 13 Deputy Commissioners of the State under Contempt of Courts Act for their failure to file status report indicating the steps being taken to ensure ban on use of polythene/polythene carry bags in their respective districts.
“Though the General Administration Department has made it clear that in case of failure of any department to file response before the High Court on time concerned Law Officers would be held responsible but how would they file response when there is no seriousness from the Heads of the Departments”, sources questioned and stressed that in case of further non-compliance of the GAD directives either penalty should be imposed on the non-serious officers or some sort of action must be taken.
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