‘Slap on the face of judiciary’: Allahabad HC slams state officer for ignoring 2022 order
The court expressed strong concern over the non-compliance of judicial directions in a salary-related contempt case.
Yadav had filed a writ petition in 2017 seeking payment of his salary. Expressing concern over non-compliance with its order, the Allahabad High Court observed that the moment litigants are permitted to treat judicial directions as optional, “the very foundation of constitutional governance begins to erode”.
The observation came while the court was hearing a contempt plea filed by Ghazipur resident Radhey Shyam Yadav, who alleged that despite a 2022 interim order directing payment of his current salary during the pendency of his writ petition, the Deputy Inspector of Schools (DIOS) failed to comply. The present DIOS sought to justify the non-compliance on the ground that a stay-vacation application against the interim order was pending, a contention the court rejected.
Taking a strong stance on the non-compliance of the order, a single bench of Justice Kshitij Shailendra observed in its order dated May 19, “The dignity and authority of Constitutional Courts is inseparably connected with public confidence in the justice delivery system. When judicial orders are openly violated without consequence, the common citizen begins to lose faith in the efficacy of law itself.”
It added, “… The perception inevitably emerges that court orders are incapable of enforcement and may safely be ignored until the end of endless litigation. Such a situation would indeed amount to making a mockery of the legal system and symbolically placing a slap upon the face of the judiciary.”
Yadav had filed a writ petition in 2017 seeking payment of his salary. On April 18, 2022, the writ court directed the then DIOS to ensure payment. A special appeal challenging the order was later dismissed as withdrawn.
During the contempt proceedings, the present DIOS filed an affidavit stating that a stay-vacation application had been filed on behalf of the State on May 12, 2022, and that a listing application had been moved on May 13 this year. On that basis, a request was made to defer further proceedings in the contempt plea until the stay-vacation application was decided.
The bench of Justice Shailendra, however, said four years had elapsed since the interim order was passed and the contempt application has also been pending for the same period.
It said the facts of the present case and nature of the interim order are slightly different as it was directed that the petitioner shall be paid his current salary during pendency of the writ petition.
The bench said, “There is nothing on record to indicate that the State ever pressed its stay vacation application since 2022… It is only on May 13, 2026, immediately after this court directed personal appearance of the DIOS in a case of non-compliance within a month from April 9, that a listing application was filed in the writ petition on behalf of the State.”
The stay vacation application has been pending for the last four years and no effort was made to get it listed or argued, it added.
Emphasising the importance of compliance with judicial orders, the court observed: “The majesty of law does not survive merely by passing of judicial orders. It survives because such orders command obedience. An order of a Constitutional Court is neither a mere advisory opinion nor a decorative piece of paper to be admired and ignored at convenience. It carries with it the full authority of the Constitution and the solemn mandate of the rule of law.”
“If mere filing of an application were treated as a licence to violate court orders, every contemnor would conveniently avoid compliance by instituting repetitive applications and then taking shelter behind the pendency thereof,” added the court.
The bench also stated that the Allahabad High Court is burdened with cases, as “around 400, 500, 600 and sometimes more than 800 cases are listed every day before every judge and sometimes it takes… decades in disposing of the matters”.
“People all around may expect such overburdened judges to become ever-working super robots or super computers or super-human beings. If during such pendency, parties are permitted to openly defy operative directions, the administration of justice would descend into chaos and anarchy. The law does not countenance such audacity,” observed the bench.
It observed that contempt jurisdiction exists precisely to prevent such collapse of judicial authority. “Constitutional Courts are guardians of legality and their orders cannot be permitted to become dead letters awaiting uncertain fate for years or decades while parties continue to act in brazen violation thereof,” the bench observed.
The bench, in its order, stated that the “opposite party is guilty of committing contempt of the order dated April 18, 2022 so as to warrant further proceedings in this matter”.
The court listed the hearing for July 8 for framing of charges against the DIOS, directing him to be present in court personally.
The court also said it is not inclined to defer proceedings as it is more than satisfied that “mere filing/pendency of the stay vacation application does not ipso facto (by the fact itself) amount to vacation of interim order”.
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