New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday stayed the Calcutta High Court order suspending the Chief Secretary of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Keshav Chandra and also imposing a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the Union Territory's (UT) Lieutenant Governor, Admiral DK Joshi for failing to comply with an earlier order of the court.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra stayed the directions passed by the High Court after hearing submissions from the Attorney General (AG)of India R Venkataramani.
In a lighter vein, the Chief Justice told the AG, “You must have got judges riled up to get order...”
The top court issued notice in the matter and scheduled the matter for further hearing on next Friday.
At the outset, the Chief Justice, in a lighter vein, said “you must have done something very drastic to get that order...” The AG explained to the bench that the matter was regarding an order in connection with the regularization of daily wage employees.
After hearing AG’s submissions, the Chief Justice said that the order of suspension of the chief secretary and the fine of Rs.5 lakhs on the LG was "a little too much".
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On Thursday, the Calcutta High Court ordered the suspension of the Chief Secretary of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Keshav Chandra and further imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on the Union Territory's (UT) Lieutenant Governor, Admiral DK Joshi for failing to comply with an earlier order of the court.
A bench comprising justices Rajasekhar Mantha and Bibhas Ranjan De said that the two high functionaries made a 'mockery' of the contempt of court proceedings initiated against them. The High Court directed both of them to be present in court on the next date of hearing.
The bench had by an order dated Dec. 19, 2022, awarded a higher pay to around 4,000 Daily Rated Mazdoors (DRMs) in the UT.
The High Court said that the contemnors have not even bothered to file any affidavit and this conduct is ex facie contumacious and has reduced the contempt jurisdiction of a division bench of this court under Article 215 of the Constitution of India to a mockery.
