Has Justice Fled to Brutish Beasts in India?

  •   Sat, Nov 26 2022
  •   By John B Monteiro

November 26, 2022

“O Judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason.” – William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English dramatic poet in Julius Caesar.

Does this hold good in present day-India in the context of a recent judgment of Karnataka High Court. You be the judge. First the facts as widely covered in the media.

Bengaluru: Officials should pay cost of frivolous cases, says HC

Coming down heavily on the government for filing frivolous petitions and ignoring the law department’s opinion, the high court said, in future, the cost of such litigations should be recovered from erring officials. While dismissing a petition filed against one M Rahamathulla, a retired assistant sub inspector of police, a division bench headed by Justice G Narendar observed in their order that if a department goes against the opinion of the law department and still files a petition/appeal/revision, etc, the head of the department concerned should clearly record the reasons for doing so in writing. “In the event of such petition/appeal/revision, etc., is not entertained by the court, then the government shall mandatorily calculate and recover the cost of that particular limb of litigation from the official concerned,” the bench said.

The court went on to say, “We feel the time has come where this court is required to send a message to the biggest litigant [government], that it does not have the licence to file all and sundry cases, which eat into the valuable judicial time, just because it is the biggest litigant. The irony is that the state is one of the prime movers to popularize the alternate dispute resolution system and it cannot be the reason for docket explosion. ” The court suggested that the law department issue a direction to this effect to everyone from the chief secretary down to all departments/ establishments and other stakeholders.

As for the case involved, the bench pointed out that allegations against Rahamathulla were ripped apart from every conceivable angle during cross examination. The bench said it was proven that Rahamathulla’s wife was carrying on a tailoring business and had an independent source of income and that his son, an engineer by profession, was gainfully employed in Bengaluru. The bench also noted that Rahamathulla possessed property even prior to the date of his entry into service and was in receipt of rental income from buildings which he owned and from agricultural lands in his possession.

“The icing on the cake is that all these sources of income were declared to the employer. The enquiry officer and the disciplinary authority conveniently ignored this declaration, which we feel is not an inadvertent act but a deliberate omission. Despite the weight of evidence against them and despite categorical admissions during cross-examination at the enquiry, an attempt was made before this court to prove otherwise. This has caused us consternation,” the bench observed.

On October 20, 2020, the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal (KSAT) had quashed the enquiry against Rahamathulla in relation to a disproportionate assets case, but the government challenged the order.

The subject is open to many views. What are yours? Your response is welcome in the format given below (Pl. scroll down a bit). Once again welcome to reason.

 

Also read:

 

 

 
By John B Monteiro
To submit your article / poem / short story to Daijiworld, please email it to news@daijiworld.com mentioning 'Article/poem submission for daijiworld' in the subject line. Please note the following:

  • The article / poem / short story should be original and previously unpublished in other websites except in the personal blog of the author. We will cross-check the originality of the article, and if found to be copied from another source in whole or in parts without appropriate acknowledgment, the submission will be rejected.
  • The author of the poem / article / short story should include a brief self-introduction limited to 500 characters and his/her recent picture (optional). Pictures relevant to the article may also be sent (optional), provided they are not bound by copyright. Travelogues should be sent along with relevant pictures not sourced from the Internet. Travelogues without relevant pictures will be rejected.
  • In case of a short story / article, the write-up should be at least one-and-a-half pages in word document in Times New Roman font 12 (or, about 700-800 words). Contributors are requested to keep their write-ups limited to a maximum of four pages. Longer write-ups may be sent in parts to publish in installments. Each installment should be sent within a week of the previous installment. A single poem sent for publication should be at least 3/4th of a page in length. Multiple short poems may be submitted for single publication.
  • All submissions should be in Microsoft Word format or text file. Pictures should not be larger than 1000 pixels in width, and of good resolution. Pictures should be attached separately in the mail and may be numbered if the author wants them to be placed in order.
  • Submission of the article / poem / short story does not automatically entail that it would be published. Daijiworld editors will examine each submission and decide on its acceptance/rejection purely based on merit.
  • Daijiworld reserves the right to edit the submission if necessary for grammar and spelling, without compromising on the author's tone and message.
  • Daijiworld reserves the right to reject submissions without prior notice. Mails/calls on the status of the submission will not be entertained. Contributors are requested to be patient.
  • The article / poem / short story should not be targeted directly or indirectly at any individual/group/community. Daijiworld will not assume responsibility for factual errors in the submission.
  • Once accepted, the article / poem / short story will be published as and when we have space. Publication may take up to four weeks from the date of submission of the write-up, depending on the number of submissions we receive. No author will be published twice in succession or twice within a fortnight.
  • Time-bound articles (example, on Mother's Day) should be sent at least a week in advance. Please specify the occasion as well as the date on which you would like it published while sending the write-up.

Leave a Comment

Title: Has Justice Fled to Brutish Beasts in India?



You have 2000 characters left.

Disclaimer:

Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. Daijiworld.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that sending false messages to insult, defame, intimidate, mislead or deceive people or to intentionally cause public disorder is punishable under law. It is obligatory on Daijiworld to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using daijiworld will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will Daijiworld.com be held responsible.