New Delhi: Nine states including Meghalaya and Union Territory of Chandhigarh were rapped by the Supreme Court on Tuesday for not giving details to the Ministry of Home Affairs about the list of persons being protected either by the Central government or by the state administration.
Appalled by the fact that many state governments did not even bother to respond to repeated reminders from the Home ministry, a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and Kurian Joseph said, “If a subordinate officer does not listen to a superior, then it creates a serious problem entailing heavy repercussions. Then there will be total anarchy and collapse of administration. Don’t let that happen. We don’t want to comment on what is happening around us. But let us follow the rule of law, for our existence depends on this.”
Singhvi and Joseph had earlier put a blunt question to the counsel of state governments – is your state home secretary higher in hierarchy than the Union home secretary? Obviously, the replies were in the negative.
The justices also emphasized that the Union home secretary, in seeking information on alleged criminals enjoying security at the exchequer’s expense, was acting in pursuance of a May 1 directive of the top court.
“It appears that the soft approach of the Supreme Court is misunderstood. We want to serve a reminder for your (the states’) information. Two secretary-level officers of Rajasthan were convicted by the high court for lapses of similar nature. For the next two years, there was not a single case of non-compliance of judicial orders. But that is not the way we ordinarily function. We will be forced to summon the chief secretaries of the defaulting states,” the bench said.
Though solicitor general Mohan Parasaran placed the affidavit of the Union government before the bench, it was amicus curiae Harish Salve who highlighted the administrative disobedience and termed it an impending crisis in governance.
Salve said, “The court had directed every state to provide information to the Union home secretary who was to collate the data and present it before the bench. About 10 states have chosen not to respond at all… This is anarchy. In a federal structure, the Union home secretary’s letter should not need a reminder for the state home secretary to respond. It appears our federation (of states) is falling apart.”
Besiudes Meghalaya, the states and Union Territories which ignored the Union home secretary’s repeated letters are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram.