By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 19: The High Court of Meghalaya on Wednesday handed reprieve to the management board members of the St. Anthony’s Lower Primary School that was demolished in contempt of its order.
The public interest litigation and the criminal contempt proceedings against principal of Don Bosco and the director of Don Bosco Technical School, Shillong were disposed of after they tendered an unqualified apology and prayed for forgiveness for demolishing the heritage school at Don Bosco Square without informing the court.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice I.P. Mukerji and Justice W. Diengdoh on Wednesday went through the affidavits filed the alleged contemnors – the management board members of the school.
In an earlier order, the court sought these affidavits with several questions answered. The questions included: why the alleged imminent danger to the school building and the need to demolish it was not brought to the notice of the vacation bench, why was appropriate leave not obtained to demolish it, and why the building had to be demolished during the court’s vacation when it was allowed to stand.
The alleged contemnors stated that have the greatest respect for the court and had no intention of disobeying its orders. They tendered an unqualified apology and prayed for forgiveness.
Their affidavits further stated that on January 4, the building was found to be tilting. They sought advice from a contractor who opined that it should be demolished to prevent danger to life and property. They said the demolition was carried as the danger according to the contractor was imminent and the court could not be approached then. “We do not find this explanation wholly convincing,” the c observed.
The court noted that the alleged contemnors running the heritage institutions are respectable Christian priests belonging to the Salesians of Don Bosco Order.
“Jesus Christ taught us to forgive a wrongdoer. He preached that the satisfaction one gets out of forgiveness is much more than what is reached by inflicting the pain of punishment. To our knowledge, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism also have similar precepts,” the court said.
“It becomes more relevant when the wrongdoer is genuinely remorseful and pleads for forgiveness.
We also appreciate the pleasing and submissive manner in which Mr (senior advocate S.) Chakrawarty presented the part of the affidavits of the alleged contemnors, praying for forgiveness. In the exercise of contempt jurisdiction, we have the option of punishing the alleged contemnors or forgiving them. The prerogative of forgiving even an unacceptable act is with the court,” it added.
Considering the status of the institution and of its management in society, the genuineness with which regret was expressed for the demolition and forgiveness prayed for, the court disposed of the criminal contempt application.
However, the forgiveness came with the condition that the school’s management should strictly comply with the earlier the order of the court saying the plan and architecture of the new building should be similar to the demolished one.
The court also said any revision of the approved plan should be authorised by the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority.