SHILLONG: Taking a break from the winter vacation, the High Court of Meghalaya will hear the pending cases related to the security to be provided to the retired Judges, the issues related to the appointment of Lokayukta and the delay in setting up of State Human Rights Commission on Monday. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice TNK Singh will take up the cases on Monday. Earlier, the High Court of Meghalaya while disposing of the order banning bandhs issued on May 27 had asked the Home Ministry to file an appropriate affidavit before January 4 on the issue of protection to be provided to the retired judges. During the hearing on AFSPA related matter on November 2, the High Court had pointed out that Chief Justice and Judges of the High Court were getting veiled threats. The Court had observed, “It may not be proper for us to say anything about our security which is, at present, being looked after by the State. Generally, we put all such anonymous letters into shredders but since two of us are to lay our office in January and February, 2016 and third one in March, 2019, and one cannot claim to be fully safe and secured in the wake of incident of kidnapping of the BDO, brother-in-law of the Superintendent of Police, who is in-charge of High Court security, we expect the Central government to give its response on this issue as well.” As there was no response from the Union Home Ministry in this regard, the Court had asked the Centre to file affidavit after doing categorization of security cover on permanent basis “for the members of the Full Bench (the Chief Justice and two Judges) so that as and when there is a request for security, it can be provided without procedural delay as per such category by the Central government or the State, as the case may be at the place of residence of the Chief Justice and the Judges after their retirement”. The Court pointed that this direction was required since the Judges working in North East and dealing with the cases of insurgents are differently placed than the Judges of other parts of the country from the security point of view.
The Division Bench will also take up on Monday the pending issue of establishing State Human Rights Commission and also the inclusion of non judicial member in Lokayukta. During the last hearing, the High Court had asked the Chief Secretary Barkos Warjri to file a comprehensive affidavit before the next hearing on January 4 regarding the stand of government on the inclusion non-judicial members in the list of those who are eligible to be appointed as Chairperson of Lokayukta as per Meghalaya Lokayukta Act,2014 . The High Court wanted only judicial members to be selected to head Lokayukta and was not inclined to allow any non judicial member to be the chairperson of Meghalaya Lokayukta. Advocate General BP Todi during a hearing on December 17 had admitted that the provision prima facie appears to be creating an anomalous situation, but he did not want to take a stand or express any opinion to be placed on record as he wanted to discuss the matter with the State Government. According to Todi, the first option for appointment of Chairperson of Lokayukta should go to a retired Chief Justice or Judge of High Court, and then, in the case of their non-availability, the post should go to an eminent person. However, the Court, while asking the Chief Secretary to file a comprehensive affidavit in this regard had observed, “We are prima facie satisfied that the provision in question being contrary to the aims and objectives of the enactment is offending and may not be sustainable in the eye of law”.