Shocked and Surprised, SC summons West Bengal Chief Secretary in Subordinate Judiciary case

The Supreme Court minced no words in expressing its dissatisfaction at the Government of West Bengal for its failure to respond to the query regarding infrastructure for the subordinate judiciary..A Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph berated the State in strong words before seeking the personal presence of the Chief Secretary of the State and Additional Chief Secretary of the Finance Department..The order was passed in the case concerning appointments and infrastructure of subordinate judiciary..West Bengal.On November 15, the Court had asked the Chief Secretary, Govt of West Bengal and Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department to inform the Court as to the date when the projects under construction (75 court halls and 39 residential units) would be completed and when construction of 422 court halls and 630 residential units will commence..When the case was taken up on November 29, the Supreme Court noted that the two authorities had filed separate affidavits stating “in one voice” that “for projects involving financial implications of less than Rs.10 crore the sanctioning authority is the Secretary of the Judicial Department of the State of West Bengal whereas for projects involving financial implications of more than Rs.10 crore approval of the Government of West Bengal is required.”.In the said affidavits, there was also a reference to a meeting held on November 20, 2018 wherein some kind of consensus seemed to have emerged that there is no shortage of funds..There was, however, no response to the query posed by the Supreme Court regarding the time that would be required to complete the construction of buildings. This irked the Court which went on to express its shock and dismay in its order as follows:.“We are shocked and surprised at the stand taken by the two high officials of the State of West Bengal in their 12 respective affidavits. The order of this Court dated 15th November, 2018 which has also been extracted in the said affidavits specifically require the two authorities to inform the Court as to the date when the projects under construction (75 court halls and 39 residential units) would be completed and when construction of 422 court halls and 630 residential units will commence. There is not even any attempt to answer the said query.”.Further, the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court placed before the Court, a letter addressed by him to the State of West Bengal containing a list of various projects which had been forwarded to the State Government seeking approval including financial approval. As per the same, financial approval for some of the projects was pending since 2015-16..Taking all these into account, the Court ordered the Chief Secretary of the State to inform the Court about the precise date/dates on which the projects under construction and projects which are yet to commence will be completed..“In the above circumstances, we are left with no option but to conclude that the appropriate order that should be passed at this stage is to require the Chief Secretary of the State to inform the Court by means of an affidavit the precise date/dates on which the projects under construction (both court halls and residential units) will be completed and also the projects which are yet to commence (i.e. 422 court halls and 630 residential units) will commence and will be completed.”.The Chief Secretary has to indicate the time schedule with precision and while indicating the said time schedule, he has to ensure that the time needed for completion of the various projects (under construction and yet to be taken up for construction) is reasonable..The said affidavit should be filed on or before December 4, 2018 and the matter will be heard on December 5..The Court also ordered that the Chief Secretary and the Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department along with the Registrar General of the High Court should remain personally present in Court on the next date of hearing, i.e. December 5..Delhi.On the same day, the Court also considered the response filed by the State of NCT of Delhi and the Delhi High Court. The Delhi government had also been asked to indicate the availability of infrastructure..The affidavit filed by Delhi government stated that while the initial proposal was addition/ modification of existing court complexes, an alternative proposal has come up as per which 195 new court halls will be constructed in three different locations located in the trans-Yamuna areas.The tentative cost for the same was estimated at about Rs.332 crore on account of new construction instead of what was proposed earlier on behalf of the Government of NCT of Delhi i.e. modification/addition to the existing court complexes which would involve more costs/more financial resources..The Supreme Court, therefore, ordered the Delhi High Court to examine this new proposal..The Court also noted that the possibility of Delhi government completing the construction of new court halls by June/July 2020 (when the additional courts are expected to start functioning) is remote..Therefore, it ordered that suitable premises should be taken on rent/ lease if required so that 167 additional court halls are available by the time the new recruits enter service in June/July 2020..“In such circumstances, we would like to impress upon the Government of NCT of Delhi, at this stage, that it would be constitutional duty and responsibility to ensure that 167 additional courtrooms are available, if required, 18 by taking suitable premises on rent or lease so as to ensure that the additional courts start functioning when the officers to be recruited are available after completing training i.e. by June/July 2020.”.The Government of NCT of Delhi and the Delhi High Court should file their respective responses to the above effect on or before December 12, 2018, and the matter will be taken up again on December 13, 2018, so far as the issue of infrastructure in Delhi is concerned..Read the order below.