The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the order of the Allahabad High Court, which had taken into custody the Uttar Pradesh government’s Special Secretary (Finance) Sarayu Prasad Mishra and Secretary (Finance) SMA Rizvi for failing to provide domestic help and other facilities to retired judges. The Court ordered the officers who had been detained to be released immediately.
The order was passed by a bench comprised of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha following an urgent mentioning on behalf of the UP Government by Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, who described the High Court’s order as “very peculiar.”
The Supreme Court bench also stayed the bailable warrant issued by the High Court to the UP Government’s Chief Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) in the contempt case.
“The Court ordered to frame rules regarding some facilities for retired judges. The rules must be submitted to the Governor. There was some technical objection. Meanwhile, the Court summoned the Finance Secretaries and ordered their arrest, as well as summoning the Chief Secretary and issued a bailable warrant against him,” ASG informed the bench.
CJI passed the order, saying, “Taken on board. The orders of the Division Bench of the High Court of Allahabad dated 4 April, 2023 and 19 April, 2023 shall be stayed until the next date of listing. The officers of the Uttar Pradesh government who have been detained must be released immediately. The Registrar General of this court shall notify this order to the Registrar General of the High Court of Allahabad, both by phone and by email, for immediate compliance.”
The matter is now listed for further consideration on next Friday.
Allahabad High Court’s order
In response to a contempt petition filed by the Association of Retired Supreme and High Court Judges, the Allahabad High Court arrested the officers. Noticing that the cops were in contempt of the orders, a division bench of the High Court took the officers into prison on Wednesday and ordered them to appear in court today for the framing of charges.
The bench of Justice Suneet Kumar and Justice Rajendra Kumar-IV also issued bailable warrants against the UP government’s Chief Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) through the appropriate Chief Judicial Magistrate to ensure their presence before the Court on April 20, 2023.
The Division Bench passed the decision primarily on the grounds that the officers were discovered to be involved in delaying facilities such as giving domestic help to the former Chief Justice and former justices of the Allahabad High Court on various pretexts.
“The officers of the Finance Department’s approach is writ large, that the proposal submitted by the High Court would not be complied with, and in their overzealous approach and adamant attitude are opposing compliance of the writ court order without any valid basis,” the Court observed.
Previously, on April 4, the HC ordered the state government to execute/notify Rules/Guidelines adopted by the Chief Justice for providing certain benefits to ex-Chief Justices and Judges of the Allahabad High Court, including a provision for domestic help.
