Supreme Court imposes cost on Union govt for challenging order quashing dismissal of CISF official

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday came down heavily upon the Central government for indulging in unnecessary litigation and imposed Rs 25,000 cost on it for challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that set aside a CISF official's dismissal.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan referred to the recent statement made at a conference organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) about the government being responsible for the case backlog.

Considering the matter, the bench said, "We fail to understand why the Union of India has challenged the order of the high court division bench. We hear pendency, pendency. Who is the biggest litigant? Cost should be imposed."

Affirming the high court's order, the bench also granted Sukhwinder Singh, the official back wages after finding the punishment of dismissal as disproportionate.

The bench asked why there couldn't be an understanding that if the high court found the punishment disproportionate and granted relief setting aside all orders, the government would not appeal to the Supreme Court.

The court found the official took medical leave but he also had to deal with an elopement in his family. Two charges that were levelled against the CISF official were absence from duty for 11 days and committing an act of indiscipline by conniving with a woman, the daughter of a CISF constable, to flee from Mumbai and attend her wedding with his younger brother.

The high court noted that the 11-day absence was explained as the official was on sanctioned medical leave during that period.