Kolkata, Oct 27: The Calcutta High Court on Monday gave an ultimatum to the West Bengal government on payment of funds for the infrastructure development of the high court and lower courts in the state.
A division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Md. Shabbar Rashidi even went to the extent of cautioning the state government of getting its accounts seized by the Reserve Bank of India.
“Ask the Chief Secretary to submit the account number. We will ask the RBI to seize that account,” Justice Basak told the state government counsel. The division bench also directed Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Prabhat Kumar Mishra, to be physically present at the court on the date of the next hearing, which has been fixed on November 10.
The division bench took special note of the state government not clearing BSNL bills of the high court for the last three years. “What will happen now if BSNL disconnects the service now? Is it not the responsibility of the state government to allot funds for the development of the high court?”
Justice Basak asked. He also said that if this was the situation with the Calcutta High Court, then the conditions of the lower court were easily understandable. Last month, the same division bench made it clear that it was the responsibility of the state government to clear funds for the infrastructure development of the high court and lower courts in the state.
It also observed that while only a small portion of the state budget is being allocated for the development of the judicial infrastructure, there had been reluctance on the part of the state administration in even releasing that meagre amount in time.
The state should not consider this payment as a mark of charity since releasing funds for the infrastructure development of courts comes within the responsibility of the state government, the division bench observed.
IANS
