CUTTACK: The dilly-dallying habit of the babudom has led the State government to shell out a fine of Rs 50,000 in the Supreme Court.
The apex court had imposed the fine on the government for inordinate delay in filing a special leave petition (SLP) by the State Higher Education department.
The ineptitude of the officers of the department goes back to January 28, 2013 when the Odisha Education Tribunal allowed a petition filed by 12 teachers of a Plus II college in Boudh seeking grant-in-aid salary entitlement.
As per norms, the department was expected to file an appeal in the High Court against the OET order within 30 days
. But the officers took nearly 20 months to file the appeal. As a result, the High Court dismissed the appeal on grounds of limitation or delay in filing on April 18, 2018.
But the conduct of the department continued to be lax in filing an SLP in the Supreme Court against the HC judgment.
When the SLP was expected to be filed within 90 days, the officers took more than 400 days to file it in the apex court along with a plea for condoning of delay.
On October 16, the Supreme Court condoned the delay, subject to petitioner-State depositing a sum of Rs 50,000 in its Registry within four weeks. While issuing the order, a two judge bench of Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat said, “If the amount is not deposited within the stipulated time, the SLP shall stand dismissed without further reference to the court”.
“Upon deposit, the amount shall be invested in a fixed deposit receipt in a nationalised bank initially for a period of 90 days with auto renewal facility”, the bench said in its order while posting the matter to December 16.
On Thursday, the department sent a communication to its lawyer along with Rs 50,000 in shape of a bank draft for depositing it with the Registry of the Supreme Court, sources said.