Chief secy apologises to HC

patna: the irony could not have been more pronounced. retiring state chief secretary mukund prasad had to spent the last day of his office on thursday apologising before the patna high court for his failure to ensure payment of retirement benefits to a retired government employee despite the court order to the effect. prasad appeared before the court of justice chandramauli kumar prasad to tender his unqualified apology for not complying with the hc order on retirement benefits to superannuated government employee uday chandra jha.justice kumar had on wednesday directed the state dgp to produce the chief secretary in the court on thursday. even as the chief secretary blamed the government's standing counsel amar nath singh for not communicating the order to him, justice prasad observed there is nothing to defend the government's callousness. he upbraided the government for harassing the pensioners and observed that the rot in governance was so complete that the courts are forced to discharge the functions of the secretaries of the government. justice prasad further observed that it was a shame that a substantial number of harassed cases were of class iii and iv employees who are made to run from pillar to post for their dues long after their retirement. he also castigated the government for consuming so much of the courts' time specially when there is a severe backlog of litigations. state's first law officer advocate general (ag) shashi anugrah narain started his submission with an unqualified apology on behalf of the chief secretary. he said prasad took over as chief secretary on november 13, 2000 and the court order regarding jha, which was passed on september 11 the same year, was never communicated to him. the standing counsel had written a letter to the finance commissioner, though, he said, adding the guilty person will not be spared. the chief secretary too filed an affidavit, saying the state government is concerned about the large number of writ applications being filed and the unnecessary workload being imposed on the the courts. he said he has taken steps to correct it. the chief secretary also swore in his affidavit that a pension cell headed by a joint secretary has been formed to address the grievances of the pensioners and to ensure regular monitoring and timely disposal of the cases. he said he has asked the finance commissioner to fix responsibility for inaction on court orders and to take disciplinary action against the guilty. the court exempted the chief secretary from personal appearance on the ag's request. petitioner's counsel shardanand jha prayed for stringent action against the erring officers.