Home secretary appears in HC in 28-year-old case

KOLKATA: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday came down heavily on the government for not complying with an order passed nearly 28 years ago, directing it to pay a state armed police (SAP) constable his dues. State home secretary Atri Bhattacharyya was directed to be personally present in court when the division bench of Justice Debashis Kargupta and Justice Shampa Sarkar chastised the government for lack of work culture.

Petitioner Habibur Rahaman joined the SAP in June 1981and was suspended in 1982 on the charge of suppressing a criminal case pending against him. In 1990, Rahaman moved the HC bench of Justice Ajit Sengupta against the suspension order. Justice Sengupta set aside the suspension order and directed the state to pay Rahaman all his arrears from 1982 to 1990 within four weeks. The constable was reinstated, but his arrears weren’t paid.

“My client retired on February 28 this year. He is in bad shape, physically and financially. He was granted no promotion in 28 years. He also spent most of his savings in fighting the case,” Rahaman’s counsel Pronob Kumar Ghosh said.

The bench on Wednesday, in the presence of Bhattacharyya, demanded to know from the state advocate-general about the work culture in the state when one of its employees had not been paid arrears despite court orders. The bench expressed displeasure when the AG submitted Rahaman was paid the dues, but it would take time to trace the documents. “The state department had time since 1990. Yet, it chose to disobey the orders of the highest court in the state. Now, if the files are not available or can’t be traced, one of the employees of the state will never get his dues. Is this not a defeat for the state home department?” the bench said. The court granted the state till August 13 to come up with the files pertaining to the matter.