SC asks High Court to decide case soon

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 26

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Punjab and Haryana High Court to decide soon a petition challenging the Manohar Lal Khattar government’s decision to remove members of the Haryana State Food Security Commission appointed by the previous Bhupinder Singh Hooda government days before demitting office.

A Bench headed by Justice Madan B. Lokur gave this direction during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Swaraj Abhiyan, an NGO, seeking proper rehabilitation of people of drought-hit states and and financial assistance to them.

The Bench had on March 22 summoned the chief secretaries of 10 states, including that of Haryana, for failure to implement its order on drought relief, particularly setting up of a State Food Security Commission in accordance with the Food Security Act, 2013.

Haryana Chief Secretary Depinder Singh Dhesi appeared before the court on Wednesday. On behalf of the Haryana government, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Advocate General Anil Grover explained to the court that technically speaking there was already a Food Security Commission in the state.

Mehta said the previous Congress government had appointed members of the State Food Security Commission days before demitting office. The new government disbanded the commission but its members obtained a stay against their removal from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Grover submitted that the High Court has been hearing the matter since April 19 and requested the top court to ask the High Court to decide the matter at the earliest. The Supreme Court accordingly “requested” the High Court to decide the case as soon as possible.

In its affidavit, Haryana submitted that without framing rules under the Act the previous government appointed the Chairperson and the members in haste. The terms and conditions of the appointment were that the Chairperson would get the pay and perks that of a Supreme Court judge while the members would get the pay and perks that of a high court judge.

The Bench pulled up at least five of the 10 chief secretaries for not complying with its orders. The states whose chief secretaries were summoned are: Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Telangana, Bihar and Jharkhand.

The NGO has sought directions to the Central and state governments to provide timely and effective relief to drought-affected people in several states. The top court had in May 2016 directed the drought-hit states to provide highly subsidised foodgrain to the affected people under the National Food Security Act.