Ravi S.Dhavan - (1.) WRIT Petition No. 24195 of 1988 was decided on May 2. 1990 by a Division Bench of this Court comprising of their Lordships Hon'ble K. P. Singh, J. and Hon'ble R. A. Sharma, J. It carried a direction, to the effect, that certain daily wage employees of the State Government be regularised in their service within three months of the receipt of a certified copy of the judgment to be placed before the respondents. The, respondents are the In charge of a local sports Complex, at Mayo Hall, the Director of Sports at Lucknow and Secretary, Ministry of Sports, Lucknow.
(2.) ALMOST two years have elapsed since the decision and the direction given by the High Court is yet to be implemented. The mandamus of the Court should not have needed a reminder and things must normally be done within a reasonable time and in this case three months was granted by the Bench, which decided the case. If there were any reservations in complying with the order, the judgment should have been challenged in an appropriate forum. But, it was permitted to become final and the judgment was accepted. Six months after the judgment the petitioners not having received the fruits of the judgment of the court complained by the only recourse they had by reporting to the High Court by a contempt petition. The respondents in the writ petition were under notice of the court in the contempt petition on 17 October, 1990, This case remained pending as also the mandamus of the High Court in the writ petition which should have been complied with within the time given by the Court. As if one contempt petition was not enough, the mandamus issued by the High court still remained un-complied. The petitioners, all daily wagers now filed another contempt petition on May 3, 1991. Complaining that as the personnel at the Sports Ministry keep changing the orders of the High Court continue to be ignored. This second contempt petition registered was contempt petition no. 636 of 1991. Thus, on the non-compliance of the same judgment two contempt petitions are pending today. It is not in issue that the judgment of the High Court, as of ,date, stands ignored and un-complited. It is two years since the judgment of the High Court was delivered still the respondents seek further time.
(3.) IF such a state of affairs were to continue there would be endless filing of contemt petitions arising out of a solitary case and it further shows that while this court may keep on giving orders and judgments which have been permitted to become final, a trend is creeping into the fabric which holds the Rule of Law together, to belittle the orders of the High Court. In the facts and circumstances of the present case all these are matters of record and not an issue. Officials who are to comply with the orders of the court will keep on changing and receive different posting as part of routine administration. But, does the continuity of administration comes to a halt in transfer ? If it not part of administration to implement court orders within the period prescribed and should orders of the court be put in the cold storage Is it good administration that a court order or judgment is considered for implementation only when a contempt complaint is filed;