The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Calcutta High Court’s directive to suspend the Chief Secretary of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The High Court had also imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on Admiral DK Joshi, the Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory (UT), for failing to comply with a prior court order.
The matter was brought before a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud by the Attorney General of India, R Venkataramani, earlier in the day. CJI Chandrachud remarked that such extreme measures must be based on truly compelling reasons.
He stated, “You must have something really drastic for such an order to be passed… We will stay these two directions and list this next week. The suspension and fine are a little extreme.”
However, the Court acknowledged that there must have been substantial provocations from the parties involved to prompt the High Court judges to issue such a ruling. Addressing Senior Advocate Vikramjit Banerjee, who represented the UT’s authorities in the High Court, CJI Chandrachud humorously remarked, “Vikramjit, you must have riled up the judges to get this order.” The Supreme Court proceeded to issue a notice and scheduled the matter for the next Friday.
The order from the Port Blair bench of the Calcutta High Court, passed on August 3, has been challenged before the Apex Court.
The High Court’s August 3 ruling had mandated the suspension of Chief Secretary Keshav Chandra of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on Lieutenant Governor Admiral DK Joshi for contempt of court.
A bench of Justices Rajasekhar Mantha and Bibhas Ranjan De had accused the two senior officials of making a ‘mockery’ of the contempt of court proceedings initiated against them. Consequently, the High Court directed both officials to appear before the court during the upcoming hearing i.e., 17th August, 2023.
In a prior order dated December 19, 2022, the bench had granted a salary increase to approximately 4,000 Daily Rated Mazdoors (DRMs) within the UT. The authorities were instructed to release overdue hiked dearness allowances to the DRMs, a matter that had remained unresolved since 2017.
During recent proceedings, the bench observed that the authorities’ supposed affidavit of compliance lacked crucial information regarding the formulation of a scheme or the improper differentiation made between DRMs engaged for sanctioned positions. The bench interpreted this affidavit as an audacious attempt to challenge and revisit matters that had already been settled before both a single-judge panel and the division bench of the High Court. This maneuver was undertaken without pursuing the appropriate legal avenues.
In light of this “flagrant contempt,” the High Court bench unequivocally concluded that Admiral DK Joshi, Lieutenant Governor, and Keshav Chandra, Chief Secretary, had displayed a clear and reprehensible violation of the court’s authority. Given the gravity of their actions, the bench opted to suspend Chief Secretary Keshav Chandra and decreed that the next most senior officer in the administration would assume the responsibilities of the Chief Secretary.
Furthermore, the bench had directed Lieutenant Governor Admiral DK Joshi to participate in the proceedings through virtual means, while Chief Secretary Keshav Chandra was instructed to appear in person before the court on August 17. The bench had explicitly stated, “They shall show cause as to why they should not be committed to prison for having committed contempt of court as already found against them.”
