The Supreme Court on Wednesday imposed fine on various state governments for non-compliance of its order to fill up vacancies in district and state consumer commissions.
Sending a strong message to the state governments, a bench comprising Justices S.K. Kaul and M.M. Sundresh said the states have to pay a fine for non-compliance of its order and also delay in filing the affidavit. The bench said this is the only language the state governments will understand, as it imposed a fine on states, which did not comply with its order to fill up vacancies in district and state consumer commissions.
In November last year, the top court said it is not inclined to waste judicial time over parties defaulting in the matter and warned the state governments that it would impose a cost of Rs one to two lakh for recovery from the officers concerned.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, amicus curiae in the matter, had then contended before the bench that a number of state governments -- Goa, Delhi, Rajasthan, Kerala and Punjab have not submitted information for staff and Bihar has submitted a status report for infrastructure.
The top court said: "This results in a considerable time period of courts being spent. We will impose exemplary costs on defaulting states for wastage of judicial time for recovery against officers." The top court told the state governments that filling up vacancies and providing adequate infrastructure was their job.
"So, what is the judicial intervention required to ask the states to perform their obligation under the Statute. Please appreciate the scope of the Consumer Protection Act", said the bench, adding that it is to redress the small aspect of daily lives of the consumers.
During the hearing, emphasizing on respect for time schedules, it noted, "unfortunately it throws the hearing out of gear for the simple reason that we don't seem to discipline ourselves with any sense of time."
The top court was hearing a suo motu matter related to vacancies and infrastructure in consumer courts across the country.
--IANS
ss/dpb
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU