SHILLONG: The case pertaining to the ST status of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma has been lingering in the Supreme Court as the Registry failed to comply with the direction of the Court to list the matter in time.
The apex court had earlier ordered the matter to be listed in February.
Sources said the matter was scheduled to be listed on February 3, but it was shifted to February 23.
Yet again the hearing was deferred from February 23 to March 3 and then from March 3 to March 10 and lastly to March 24.
The date of the case was shifted five times, and earlier the matter was eliminated as many as 14 times.
Sources said the basic question is that whether the matter would at all be listed for final order or it would be eliminated from one list to another.
The sources also questioned that if the Registry does not obey the directions of the apex court, “then how one would expect others to comply with them”.
Moreover, the Supreme Court in its 2014 order had directed the Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) in New Delhi to dispose of the matter on merits and in accordance with law preferably within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order.
But NCST instead of conducting the inquiry within the stipulated time had referred the matter to the State, which itself indicates that NCST did not comply with the direction of the apex court.
Moreover, there was no reason for NCST to refer the matter to the state and particularly the State Level Scrutiny Committee to conduct the inquiry.
Sources added that this indicates that NCST did not comply with the direction of the apex court giving rise to the suspicion that there was a conscious attempt by the official respondents to disregard the decisions passed by the Court with a view to favour Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and his siblings.
The inquiry which was to be completed within eight weeks from the order of the Court dated January 20, 2014, has not been completed even after the lapse of more than three years.
The action of the NCST was challenged, and the court in its order had stayed further proceedings of the State Level Scrutiny Committee.
The ST status case was earlier dismissed by the apex court through an order on September 18, 2015, and then the application for direction for further hearing was also rejected by the Registrar (J-I) on November 2 the same year.
Finally, the Court through an order on September 2 last year had restored the petition.
