Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 15: The High Court has framed rule against IAS officer Mandeep Kour, Commissioner Secretary, Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and JKAS officer Jaffar Hussain, Deputy Secretary to show cause as to why they should not be punished for the willful and deliberate non-compliance of the court directions.
After hearing Advocate Vivek Sharma appearing for the applicant in the contempt petition, Justice Rahul Bharti directed Registrar Judicial, Jammu to issue notice to both the officers with the direction to remain present in person on next date of hearing.
In terms of a judgment dated 15.12.2016 passed in SWP No. 2459/2010 titled “Vandana Gupta Versus State of Jammu and Kashmir and Others”, the writ court dismissed the plea of the writ-respondents against the regularization claim of the petitioner, who having more than 7 years of engagement, was seeking regularization.
The writ court directed the writ-respondents to pass appropriate orders with regard to regularization of the petitioner which was to take effect upon from the date of completion of 7 years of engagement of the petitioner reckoning from 01.10.1994.
The judgment of the writ court came to be challenged in a time barred Letters Patent Appeal which came to be dismissed by the Division Bench with an observation that there is no question of any interference given the fact that the case of the petitioner was covered by a Full Bench decision. The judgment of the Single Bench read with LPA judgment of the Division Bench came to be questioned in Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 16932/2019 before the Supreme Court of India which too came to be dismissed in terms of an order dated 21.05.2020, thus, leaving no scope for any escape for the respondents.
After having failed to earn the compliance of the judgment in her favour from the writ-respondents’ end, the petitioner was constrained to come up with the contempt petition which came to be filed in December 2020 and now more than two and half years have gone but the compliance of the judgment is not in the sight going by the tone and tenor of the repeated statement of facts filed in the case with the latest being 24.05.2023 filed by Mandeep Kour.
“A perusal of the statement of facts bears out in bold letters the stand of the Commissioner/Secretary to Govt that the officer is not competent authority to regularize the service of the petitioner at his/her own level under rules”, Justice Bharti observed, adding “it seems that the Commissioner/Secretary has misconception about the status of the Commissioner/Secretary to Government. The Government of UT of Jammu and Kashmir in terms of its Business Rules acts through its respective Administrative Departments which are headed by the Commissioner/Secretary and by that reference, the statement of Mandeep Kour (IAS), Commissioner/Secretary to Govt, Rural Development Department & Panchayati Raj read between the lines is that the Govt of UT of Jammu and Kashmir is telling this court that it is not competent to regularize the service of the petitioner”.
“This court has not to go door to door seeking each and every department of the Govt for the purpose of fetching compliance of its directions/writs”, Justice Bharti said, adding “mockery at the end of the respondents is further exhibited by an Annexure-R1 & Annexure-R2 accompanying the current latest statement of facts which is an internal communication dated 28.04.2023 of a Deputy Secretary to the Govt, General Administration Department addressed to Commissioner/Secretary to the Govt, Department of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, the tone and tenor of which is that the Department of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj shall express its inability to implement the directions of the court by citing the direction of the Supreme Court in “State of Karnataka vs Uma Devi” case”.
Justice Bharti ordered that Jaffar Hussain (JKAS), Deputy Secretary to the Govt be impleaded as a contemnor in contempt petition for his note addressed to Commissioner/Secretary to the Govt, Department of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj.
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