Peeved over their casual approach, the Jammu and Kashmir high court has equated government officials in the Union territory with “Kumbhkarna”—brother of the demon King Ravana and observed that “they had to be woken up by using different means.”
The acting chief justice of Jammu and Kashmir high court justice Rajesh Bindal on Wednesday expressed his displeasure over working of government officials in the UT.
He made these observations while dismissing a writ petition filed by the National India Construction Company, which had challenged the rejection of its bid for construction of a road under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
“In the case in hand and what is seen in other cases filed against the government in this court, replies/objections are not filed in some cases even for a decade. It is not limited to main petitions but even in contempt petitions, a compliance report is not filed for a long time. This not only results in denying fruits of litigation to the succeeding party but even lowers public trust in the judicial institution,” justice Bindal observed.
“Honourable Supreme Court had compared a litigant approaching the court after a huge delay with Kumbhkarna. I think if considered in that light, for filing of replies/objections in the cases pending in this court, the government officials are no better. As has been mentioned in Ramayana, demon King Ravana had to use a lot of noise and different means to wake up Kumbhkarna, when his kingdom was in trouble. Here also the government officials are to be woken up from slumber by using different means,” he further observed.
{{/usCountry}}“Honourable Supreme Court had compared a litigant approaching the court after a huge delay with Kumbhkarna. I think if considered in that light, for filing of replies/objections in the cases pending in this court, the government officials are no better. As has been mentioned in Ramayana, demon King Ravana had to use a lot of noise and different means to wake up Kumbhkarna, when his kingdom was in trouble. Here also the government officials are to be woken up from slumber by using different means,” he further observed.
{{/usCountry}}“The way of working and attitude of shirking responsibility (by officials) will not change unless people at the helm are held accountable for their action and inaction. If officers and staff are paid salaries from amounts contributed by the public, why should the public exchequer suffer for their inefficiency and casualness?,” he observed.