CHENNAI: The non-filing of counter affidavits for a total of 2,878 cases pending in the Madras High Court and a total of 43 cases, pertaining to various state government departments, pending in the Supreme Court, has raised eyebrows.
Four years ago, the state government implemented the Court Case Monitoring System through which information on court cases pertaining to all the departments became accessible. As per data obtained through the web-enabled system, the number of pending cases has come down. However, it was found that the state departments are yet to file counter affidavits for many of the cases.
According to information accessed by TNIE, counter affidavits are yet to be filed for a total of 43 cases pending in the Supreme Court, and a total of 2,878 cases in the Madras High Court. It was also revealed that bills worth `78 lakh are pending with various departments.
Expressing concern, State Chief Secretary Shiva Das Meena urged the respective department heads to file the counters at the earliest, said sources, adding that the public department has been told to chalk out a mechanism in consultation with the law secretary to effectively follow up on the judgements delivered by courts. Steps need to be taken on war footing to either implement the order or go for an appeal to avoid contempt of court cases, said the chief secretary.
An undue delay was also found in the departments complying with the orders despite contempt notices being issued. The CCMS was implemented in the wake of over 20,000 contempt of court petitions against state government officials piling up in the Madras High Court and the Madurai Bench, between 2010 and 2014.
According to sources, the Madras High Court had even directed the Registrar General of the High Court to issue instructions to the registry to seek explanations from litigants or respondents over undue delay in filing counter affidavits or documents. As per Rule 3-A of the Rules to Regulate Proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, litigants have to file counter affidavits within the time limit of three months.