Madhya Pradesh High Court: Atul Sreedharan, J., addressed the instant contempt petition. The Court while expressing concern over State inaction, stated, “The inaction on the part of the State for a good seven years shows the sheer insensitivity of the State and its bureaucracy and is worthy of dereliction in the strongest terms.”
The present contempt petition was filed for non-compliance of order passed in W.P. No. 806 of 2013 on 18-01-2013. The facts of the case were that the petitioner who was a daily wage cook, employed in the Government Post-Matric Scheduled Caste Boys Hostel filed a petition seeking direction to the respondents, that regular pay-scale be granted to him in the light of circular dated 17-03-1978. It was submitted that the aforesaid circular gave daily wage employees engaged in the Tribal Welfare Department, benefit which had been given by the order passed in Dhanu Bai v. State of M.P., (W.A. No. 85/2011). The Court had ordered the State to consider if the order of Dhanu Bai case would squarely apply on the petitioner; and the State was given liberty to take into consideration any subsequent circular issued by the State Government in respect of grant of wages to daily wage.
The Court observed that, undue liberty that had been granted from time to time and again by this Court for the compliance of its orders, was being taken for granted. The abject disdain of the State and its functionaries to the orders passed by this Court was only on account of the leniency shown by this Court. Time and again, looking at the work load of the State and its functionaries, this Court has been loath to proceed against the guilty in contempt. This has emboldened them repeatedly and they put the orders passed by this Court in the back-burn. It had taken seven years to the State to come out with a pathetic response. The Court said,
“The power that is given to the State and its functionaries are not without concomitant responsibility. Rudyard Kipling, a famous author whose association with the State is legendary on account of his work ” The Jungle Book”, has observed “power without responsibility – the prerogative of the ****** throughout the ages. Time and again, the State has, by its violation or its non-compliance to the orders passed by this Court; shown that it is an institution that prefers to have powers without responsibility.
Considering that the respondents were aware with the order passed by this Court at least from 03-04-2013, if not before that, the Court remarked that, the inaction on the part of the State for a good seven years shows the sheer insensitivity of the State and its bureaucracy and is worthy of dereliction in the strongest terms. It was further stated by the Court, “The State through its inactivity is partly responsible for the flood of writ petition before this Court and after the orders passed by this Court, it leads to filing of the contempt petition because the State and its instrumentalities do not comply with the order passed by this Court within the time period given in the order.”
In the light of above, the instant petition was disposed of with the direction to the respondent to take a decision within a period of two weeks from passing of this order. [Sona Bai v. Principal Secretary Tribal Welfare Department, Mantralaya, CONC-1455-2014, decided on 13-01-2021]
