Hearing on Meghalaya Lokayukta fixed on Feb 28
SHILLONG: The High Court of Meghalaya has imposed a fine of Rs.20,000 on the State government for the failure on the part of Advocate General B.P. Todi to be present in the Court during the hearing of a case related to the Meghalaya Lokayukta.
The High Court, during the hearing on January 28, was annoyed over the delay on the part of the government to explain the status of the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the government in the Supreme Court against the ruling of the High Court preventing any non judicial member from becoming the head of Lokayukta.
The High Court has fixed the case for February 28.
Earlier, during the hearing, Aman Sinha, senior counsel appeared as Amicus Curiae for the petitioner, while S. Sen Gupta, Additional Senior Government Advocate, appeared for the State government.
Gupta had sought for more time on behalf of the advocate general on the ground that the latter was in personal difficulty to appear before the Court and he was not in the city.
The High Court observed that this was not the first time that such prayer was made on the ground that the advocate general was not available in the city. Earlier too, the advocate general had sought time for taking instruction as to the progress of the SLP filed in the Supreme Court, the High Court said.
The Court observed that the case cannot be adjourned several times only on the ground that the SLP before the Supreme Court is pending.
The Court reminded that on the last date (07-01- 2016) the advocate general had stated before the Court that SLP was likely to be taken up shortly.
“It goes without showing that for urgent matters there is provision for mentioning before the Apex Court for taking up the matter on urgent basis. There is nothing on record to show that special request had been made before the Supreme Court to take up the SLP,” the High Court pointed out. The Court, while not taking lightly the absence of advocate general observed that in the other cases which were listed before the Court on January 28, the service or assistance of the advocate general was not available.
The Court further ordered that the State government will ensure that the service of advocate general is available to the Court especially when serious matters relating to the State government are being taken up by the Court.
The Court allowed the request of adjournment subject to payment of Rs.20,000 “which should be deposited by the State government within 24 hours in this registry, and the registry in turn, will hand over the money to Amicus Curiae Sinha, who wanted to donate the amount for the welfare of the juveniles.
“Accordingly, the amount should be deposited in the fund of the Director, Social Welfare, who in turn, shall deposit the same in the fund of the Juvenile Justice Board or shall utilize it for the juvenile inmates of the juvenile home,” the order of the Court said.