BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the state government, semi-government authorities, statutory bodies and corporations, including Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and Bengaluru Development Authority, on a suo motu public interest litigation initiated over non-compliance with numerous orders it passed from time to time.
Giving a clear message that the casual, lethargic and insensitive approach on the part of the authorities towards compliance of orders and directions of courts cannot be tolerated, and has to be dealt with sternly, the high court on April 8 initiated suo motu public interest litigation. A large number of petitions was filed before it under the Contempt of Courts Act against the state government and its authorities for unreasonable delay in compliance of court’s orders.
A division bench of Chief Justice N V Anjaria and Justice Krishna S Dixit issued notice to all 45 respondents -- the state government and its instrumentalities -- after hearing the petition placed before it by the Registrar General of High Court K S Bharath Kumar, through counsel Madhukar Deshpande.
The petition had prayed to issue directions to respondents to ensure compliance with the orders, directions or judgments and to put in place an internal mechanism in every organisation to oversee timely compliance, and punish erring officials who are deliberately sitting tight on orders.
“The orders of courts so disregarded and neglected for their compliance bring about a situation where the public at large would view that the system has failed. It would be considered that the courts have been losing their authority and their orders do not have any effect on the authorities of the government,” the division bench observed in the suo motu proceedings.
Referring to numerous instances of non-compliance with orders, as the authorities have been found sitting tight on them for unreasonably long periods, the court stated the judgments and orders passed by courts of law are shelved for one or other reason, either out of lethargy or because of red-tape. Such a state of things is fatal to the interests of the administration of justice, it erodes faith and confidence of the citizen in the judicial machinery and judicial system.