Angered by excessive delay in filing appeals, the Supreme Court has imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each on the Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka governments in two separate cases. The apex court has said that it is a waste of judicial time.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, and Justice Hrishikesh Rai dismissed the petitions filed by the two states against the High Court verdict on late grounds. The bench said that in both cases there was no sound basis for delay in filing appeals to the state government.
The UP government had filed an appeal with a delay of 502 days while Karnataka filed an appeal after 1288 days. The bench said in its order that we are constantly seeing that the state government and public authorities often knock on the Supreme Court door with delay. They do not even care that the appeal is filed within the stipulated time.
Expressing strong resentment, the bench imposed a fine of Rs 25-25 thousand on both states. The bench said that the penalty amount should be recovered from the officials responsible for the delay in filing the appeal. The UP government has been asked to deposit the fine in four weeks in the Supreme Court Advocate on Record Welfare Fund.
The Karnataka government has been asked to deposit the fine amount in the Supreme Court Employees Welfare Fund. The court has asked that a copy of our order be given to the Chief Secretary of the concerned states. It has also said that if the order is not followed within the stipulated time, a lawsuit can be initiated against the Chief Secretary.