Depts not imparting full instructions: High Court

Legal Correspondent

Shimla, January 1

The HP High Court has deprecated the practice of the state government not to impart complete instructions.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice CB Barowalia has observed that “we are repeatedly coming across cases where complete instructions are not being imparted by government departments, especially the Director of Education (Elementary or Higher). This practice needs to be deprecated. Departments need to be fair while contesting litigation and the same has to be fought fairly and squarely”.

The court cautioned the departments that “the practice of concealing material from the court is still being resorted to and the same needs to be deprecated. If this court comes across any such concealment in future, it shall be constrained to initiate contempt proceedings against earring officials. After all court proceedings are sacrosanct and cannot be permitted to be breached, that, too, at the instance of a party, which is expected to be non-partisan”.

It observed that “the state is expected to be a model employer, meaning thereby it stands for the cause of public without being partisan”.

The court passed the order on Friday while dealing with a petition wherein the petitioner had challenged his transfer order contending that he had been shifted not on account of any administrative exigency or public interest, but due to repeated recommendation notes issued by the local MLA.

The petitioner alleged that he had been transferred from Government Senior Secondary School at Brehi in Chamba district against a vacant post.

In its earlier order, the court had directed the Director Elementary Education to clear his position on the transfer order of the petitioner, especially on the recommendation note issued by the MLA. In compliance with the court order, the Director had imparted instructions to the state counsel. However, the Director instead of furnishing complete details regarding the transfer order of the petitioner simply informed about the tenure of the petitioner.