India News | SC Slams MP Govt over Delay in Filing Appeals, Laments Waste of Public Money
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the Madhya Pradesh government for filing appeals against high court orders with a delay of about 400 days and asked it for measures to avoid unnecessary litigation and save public money.
New Delhi, Feb 14 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the Madhya Pradesh government for filing appeals against high court orders with a delay of about 400 days and asked it for measures to avoid unnecessary litigation and save public money.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said if a need arose, it would direct the state government to appoint fresh law graduates in position to take a decision on which cases need to be appealed in the apex court.
"Appointing fresh law graduates will help in taking decisions on which case the state needs to file an appeal. This will also help in creating employment," the bench observed.
Unnecessary cases was a waste of public money, it added.
The top court had summoned the state law secretary N P Singh to explain filing of an appeal in a civil dispute with a delay of 177 days.
The appeal was filed against a high court order rejecting the state's plea on the ground of 656 days delay.
The law secretary, who appeared before the court on Friday, submitted he was unaware of the correct procedure adopted for filing appeals in the Supreme Court as he took over the charge in August 2024.
Additional solicitor general S V Raju, appearing for the state, submitted in Madhya Pradesh, the local district collector took decisions on filing state's appeals.
The bench directed the collector of the district concerned to remain present before it on the next date of hearing to explain why he chose to file an appeal in the civil dispute with 177 days delay and the mechanism adopted in filing such cases.
Raju said instead of the collector, the state should be asked to explain the mechanism and the modalities for taking such a decision.
The bench refused to modify its order summoning the collector but asked the government to explain the mechanism adopted at the state level.
"You have understood the intention of the court. When you go back to Bhopal, explain the order to all including the minister concerned. Filing unnecessary litigation is a waste of public money," the bench told the law secretary.
It posted the matter on March 21.
On January 31, the top court quipped, "We admire the courage with which the state of Madhya Pradesh has been filing special leave petitions in this court over a period of time with delay of 300/400 days."
It said the filing of cases was not the problem but the question, "Who was taking the decision to challenge a particular order passed by the high court before the Supreme Court?"
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)