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Judgment
Shashi Kant Gupta, J.—This contempt petition has been filed alleging wilful and deliberate violation of the Judgment and order of this Court dated 14.10.2008 rendered in writ petition No. 53583 of 2006.
The operative portion of the said order dated 14.10.2008 runs as under:
In view of the aforesaid principle since the petitioner has already appointed in 1986 and they have been deprived the payment of salary from 1991 inter alia on the ground that the order dates 31.03.1986 was not a genuine document but subsequently, it was found genuine document and granted order for payment, therefore, the order passed by Director of Education, U.P. Allahabad, dated 11.07.2006 (Annexure - 5 to the writ petition) is hereby quashed. The writ petition is allowed. Opposite parties are directed to pay the salary including the arrears within a period of three months, it will be open for the opposite parties to dispense with the services of the Junior Most Persons if they are working.
Before proceeding further, to deal with the matter, it would be appropriate to take note of few orders passed by this Court in this contempt application to indicate that several opportunities were given to the opposite parties to comply with the order passed by the writ court.
The relevant portions of the orders dated 2.7.2010 and 19.7.2010 are quoted below:
Heard learned Counsel for the applicant and the learned Standing Counsel. In the affidavit of compliance filed by the District Inspector of Schools, Sant Kabir Nagar (opposite party No. 2) it was stated in paragraph No. 6 that current salary is being paid to the applicant month to month from March, 2009. Further in paragraph 7 of the said affidavit of Pramod Kumar, opposite party No. 2 it was stated that so far as the payment of arrears of salary is concerned the same is in process and it is hoped that the same shall be paid within a further period of three weeks. This affidavit was filed in August, 2009. More than 11 months have passed since filing of this affidavit. According to the learned Counsel for the applicant the arrears of salary has not been paid till date. Learned Standing Counsel is also not in a position to state about the current position and any development which may have taken place on the averments contained in the said affidavit of compliance.
List this matter on 19.7.2010. By the said date if arrears of salary are not paid to the applicant and an affidavit to that effect is not filed, the opposite party No. 2 shall remain present before this Court.
19.7.2010
Pursuant to the order dated 2.7.2010, Sri Pramod Kumar, District Inspector of Schools, Sant Kabir Nagar is present. Further, Sri K.R.Singh, learned standing counsel, has filed an affidavit on his behalf. As per the affidavit, the bill for arrears of salary was received by opposite party No. 2 only in the month of June 2010 from the Management and thereafter the same has been forwarded to the Finance Controller of the office of the Director of Education (Secondary) for release of the Budget along with covering letter dated
14.7.2010.
Sri K.R.Singh, has prayed for three months'' time to ensure the actual payment of the arrears. Learned Counsel for the applicant objected to grant of period of three months as according to him the judgment of the the Writ Court is dated 14.01.2008 and further an affidavit was filed in August, 2009 praying for three weeks'' further time to ensure the payment, but till date the same has not been made.
In the opinion of the Court, sufficient time has elapsed, as such, only six weeks'' time is allowed to the opposite party to ensure the actual payment of the amount of arrears due to the applicant. It is made clear that the concerned sanctioning authorities of the arrears would not delay the matter further and ensure that the arrears are paid within the time allowed by the Court.
A copy of this order may be sent to the officers of the Directorate as also the Government to ensure early compliance.
List on 13.9.2010. By the said date, if actual payment of arrears is not made, the opposite party No. 2 shall again remain present along with an affidavit stating the reasons as to why the payment has been delayed.
Lastly on 13.9.2010 the opposite party No. 2, the District Inspector of Schools was present before the court and an order was passed affording further opportunity to the opposite parties to comply with the order of the writ court, the relevant portion of which is extracted as under:
Considering the submission advanced on behalf of the parties, at this stage Court is not inclined to issue notice to the Director or the other concerned authorities who are in any manner connected with the sanctioning of the fund but expect that they would act in a manner so that the directions of the writ Court is complied with at the earliest.
As prayed, two weeks time is allowed. List on 29th September, 2010.
On the said date opposite party No. 2 shall again remain present. It is however, provided that in case actual compliance is made and payment is made in compliance to the judgment of the writ Court, his personal presence would not be necessary.
Today an affidavit has been filed by the opposite party No. 2, who is present before the court, and the same is taken on record.
Referring to paras 6, 7 and 8 of the afore mentioned affidavit, the learned Standing counsel for the opposite party No. 2 submitted that in compliance of the order of this Court the salary bill for the period between April, 1991 and February 2009 was submitted by the committee of management and the same was sent to the opposite party No. 1 Director of Education (Madhyamik), U.P. Lucknow, who by its letter dated 25.8.2010, made certain queries and the said queries were replied by the opposite party No. 2 by his letter dated 10.9.2010 along with an amended salary bills with a request to release the fund to avoid any delay for compliance of the order of this Court.
He further submitted that in pursuance of the order of this Court dated 13.9.2010, the opposite party No. 2 again wrote a letter on 15.9.2010 to the Finance Controller, Education Directorate, U.P. Allahabad with a request to release the fund but in spite of several reminders and request having been made by the opposite party No. 2 to that effect, no financial approval has yet been accorded and on account of this reason, he could not comply with the order of this Court. He further submits that the opposite party No. 2 is ready and willing to pay the entire amount due to the applicant towards his arrears of salary provided the fund is released by the opposite party No. 1 and the Finance Controlloer.
Per contra, learned Counsel for the applicant submitted that the grounds/pleas taken by the opposite party in the afore mentioned affidavit are vague and absurd and the contemnoer opposite parties, particularly the opposite party No. 1, have wilfully disobeyed the compliance of the order of this Court and have made every effort to circumvent and overreach the orders passed by this Court. He further submitted that despite several orders of this Court and the assurance given by the opposite party No. 2, not even a single penny towards arrears of salary, which is due from April, 1991 to February, 2009, has been paid to the applicant, and has been made to run from pillar to post since 1991 and this conduct on the part of the opposite parties amounts to wilful disobedience of the order of this Court for which stringent action is liable to be taken against the contemnor opposite parties.
Heard the learned Counsel for the parties and perused the record.
It is indeed very unfortunate and regrettable that the salary of the applicant, which is due from April, 1991 to February, 2009, in spite of
admitting the said claim by the opposite parties, not even a single penny has been paid to the applicant on one pretext or the other despite there being a specific order of the writ court
The defiant attitude of the opposite parties writ large on the face of the record. Such conduct of the opposite parties, who are the senior Government Officers, must be deprecated. It is a distressing feature and reprehensible, and such inaction and lethargy on the part of the senior State Officials cannot be approved by this Court. It is of paramount public interest that the people, after obtaining an order of the Court, should not feel helpless or without any remedy when such orders are flouted. The rule of law is the foundation of the democratic society. The Judiciary is the guardian of the rule of law and third pillar, central pillar of democracy. If we want judiciary to function effectively and impartially then its dignity and authority must be respected and protected. If the orders of the court are disobeyed with impunity by those, who owe an obligation to the society to preserve the rule of law, the whole administration of justice would be brought into disrepute and rule of law will disappear.
From a perusal of the affidavit, filed today by the opposite party No. 2, it transpires that the opposite party No. 2 has been making efforts for compliance of the order of this Court but it is the opposite party No. 1 and the Finance Controller, Directorate of Education, Allahabad, who are not cooperating in the matter.
In view of the above, as a last chance, one more opportunity is afforded to the opposite parties viz. opposite party No. 1 Mr. Sanjay Mohan, Director of Education (Madhyamik) as well as the Finance Controller, (Arth-1), Directorate of Education, Allahabad and also the opposite party No. 2, who is present today, to make payment of the entire amount due towards arrears of salary in compliance of the order of this Court by the next date. It is made clear that if by the next date, the payment is not made, as indicated herein above, the Court would have no option but to frame charges against them.
List this matter on 27.10.2010. On that date the opposite party No. 1 Mr. Sanjay Mohan, Director of Education (Madhyamik) as well as the Finance Controller, (Arth-1), Directorate of Education, Allahabad and also the opposite party No. 2, who is present today, shall remain present before the court .
Let a copy of this order be issued to Mr. K.R. Singh, learned Standing Counsel for the opposite parties free of usual charges for necessary follow up within three days.