The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to explain by Wednesday “why and how” did its chief secretary failed to obey its order to appear before the Allahabad High Court in a case of wrong invocation of the Gangsters Act against a man by Barabanki district magistrate and police.
The apex court was furious after senior counsel P S Patwalia submitted that chief secretary Jawed Usmani could not appear before the HC as he had gone abroad for medical treatment.
“Why don’t you like Indian doctors? What is his medical condition? Find out. When the Supreme Court passes an order, is this the way you treat it? Explain why and how the chief secretary did not present himself before the HC in spite of our order,” said a bench of justices Altamas Kabir and J Chelameshwar.
Though the counsel said the official had gone abroad on July 23 much before the apex court’s order on August 7, the bench was not inclined to entertain the plea and sought an explanation by Wednesday.
The apex court had earlier castigated the UP chief secretary for failing to appear before the Allahabad High Court, saying, “Your conduct is not at all correct. Why did you disobey the court order? We will not allow this.”
“Your conduct has been very bad. You may be the chief secretary, but you have to obey the law,” the bench had told senior counsel S R Singh, who was appearing for the state.
Comply directions
Agreeing to abide by the direction, the counsel had assured the court that the chief secretary will comply with the high court’s direction. But despite the assurance, the official had failed to appear before the HC and incurred the wrath of the bench.
The high court on July 3 had passed severe strictures against the Barabanki district magistrate and other officials while dealing with the bail plea of Dinesh Lonia, who had challenged the state’s decision to invoke the UP Gangster and Anti Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 against him.
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