Bombay high court pulls up Maharashtra govt officers for ignoring orders, issues contempt notice to Staff Selection Commission chief

NEW DELHI: The Bombay high court has expressed displeasure to what it described as the “audacity” of government officials in disobeying the judicial orders, the high Court has also issued a contempt notice against the director of Saff Selection Commission (SSC), R G Singh for alleged wilful non-compliance, as per news agency PTI.

The bench comporises of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Hiten Venegaonkar has expressed deep concern over the growing trend of authorities ignoring court directives.

"This is a classic case wherein, prima facie, we find that even officers in the service of this nation have displayed the audacity to disobey the orders of this court. Much turns upon the discipline of such officers in respecting the Majesty of Law," the HC said.
Such disobedience has become so frequent that hundreds of contempt petitions are filed every year, most involving state or central government officials, the court further added.

The matter is scheduled for further hearing on Wednesday.

The notice was issued in a case involving two Pune residents, Sushant Sarode and Aniket Jadhav, who were aspiring to join the CISF/BSF and despite earlier directions from the high court to induct them into the training programme, the SSC failed to comply.

The candidates had been denied entry after a physical test due to a marginal shortfall in height, which the court had earlier deemed insignificant.

"We are appalled by the fact that the tendency to disobey orders of the high court is growing to such an extent that hundreds of contempt petitions are being registered each year, most of them on account of disobedience by the state government, the central government, or their officers," the bench said.

(With agency inputs)