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Journalism of Courage
In a serious setback to the state government, the Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, taking note of the continued power cuts on an announced schedule in the state, has ordered a CBI inquiry ‘‘as to the reasons leading to violation of this court’s order directing not to resort to power cuts after 8.30 in the night.’’
The order, passed yesterday, instructs the CBI director o constitute ‘‘a team of officers not associated with the state of MP to be headed by an officer not below the rank of joint director to conduct an impartial enquiry with the help of the experts of the Central Electricity Authority…’’.
The terms of reference also state that the inquiry must look into reasons ‘‘as to individual liability of the contemners or any other person in deliberate violation of this court’s order….’’ and ‘‘the veracity of the claims of the Board and the government regarding non-availability of surplus electricity from any source of purchase at any cost.’’
The CBI has been asked to submit an interim report within one month and the final report within two months. The CBI has also been directed to maintain a record of all power cuts ‘‘keeping in view the fact that each power cut shall constitute an independent offence of the contempt of court.’’
The high court order is expected to further compound the criticism the government is facing on the power front. Even before this order, the power situation has been one of the main political issue in the state with the BJP constantly targetting the government. CM Digvijay Singh, admitting the scope of the problem, has been quoted as saying that the situation is beyond his control and till additional generation capacity is built up in the state, the situation is unlikely to improve.
In the course of an earlier hearing on March 7, the Gwalior bench had directed that ‘‘there shall be no power cuts during night time until further orders’’ and had then modified these orders on March 11 in consonance with orders of the Indore bench passed in a different case on March 7 which had directed the state government and the MPSEB ‘‘to make all possible efforts to maintain uninterrupted power supply at least from 8.30 pm to 6.30 am till the school examination are over.’’
In its order yesterday, the Gwalior High Court also indicated that ‘‘in view of prima facie deliberate violations of this court’s order… we reiterate the rule of law is to punish the contemners responsible for such violations…under Article 215 of the Constitution and to impose punishment proportionate to damage caused to the credibility of this Institution,” irrespective of the quantum of sentence prescribed under the Contempt of Courts Act.’’
