The Hindu : HC takes up 4,000 contempt pleas against Bihar Govt.

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Thursday, Jul 24, 2003

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HC takes up 4,000 contempt pleas against Bihar Govt.

By Our Staff Correspondent

PATNA July 23. The Patna High Court today took up over 4,000 contempt petitions pending against the State Government and directed that it comply with its orders in a month.

The Chief Secretary, S.N. Biswas, and all departmental heads were present in the Division Bench Court of Justice Nagendra Rai and Justice R.S. Garg, which sought to dispose of petitions pending for more than three years in some cases.

The Chief Secretary said the State Government had complied with the court orders in 1989 out of 4,010 contempt cases.

The process had been initiated in 760 cases, while the Government had obtained stay orders in 67 cases.

According to Mr. Biswas, about 1,000 cases pertained to boards and corporations and 2,816 to various departments, of which 1989 had been obeyed. About 100 cases related public enterprises of the Central Government and Jharkhand, while the authorities had not been able to identify 300 cases.

The court stressed that it drew no pleasure in making the officials appear for each hearing and hoped that they would comply with its orders with a sense of urgency as the judiciary was the "last refuge of the people these days."

The judges hoped that henceforth the officials would seek time where needed in carrying out its orders, rather than sleeping over them, forcing the aggrieved to come back to court with such contempt petitions.

The bench has posted the next hearing for August 25 and directed that the Chief Secretary submit a thorough compliance note.

It, however, exempted the other departmental heads from appearance.

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HC takes up 4,000 contempt pleas against Bihar Govt.