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‘Hold judiciary in high esteem’: Tripura CM Biplab after row over his ‘contempt’ remark
Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb, while speaking at a biennial conference of the Civil Service Officers’ Association on Saturday, said that the officers should work for people without thinking about contempt of court.
A day after courting controversy with statements on contempt of court, video of which went viral on social media, Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Monday defended himself, saying that his speech was distorted and taken out of context.
He also said that he holds all judicial institutions in the ‘ highest esteem’ and never told officers to disregard courts.
“The reporting of my speech on 25/9/21 is being twisted and wrongly reported by some print and electronic media to project disregard to the judiciary and judicial institutions. I firmly and unequivocally clarify that I hold all the judicial institutions in the highest esteem and am duty-bound to uphold the majesty of the judiciary. I have not told the officers or even remotely intended to convey any message to disregard courts or disrespect court orders as reported. My words have been published out of context,” Deb wrote on his Facebook.
In the meantime, RTI activist Saket Gokhale wrote to the advocate general of Tripura high court Siddhartha Shankar Dey and requested court proceedings against Deb for his comments on the judiciary.
Gokhale has recently joined Trinamool Congress.
In the letter, Gokhale said that no person, including the chief minister of a state, is above law and orders of the judiciary apply to all.
“Your consent is, therefore, sought in this matter to enable the undersigned to initiate proceedings for criminal contempt of court against Sh. Biplab Kumar Deb for the aforementioned comments about the judiciary, “ he wrote in his letter.
No petition was known to have been filed in the high court. However, no comment from the advocate general was made available on the issue.
Deb, while speaking at a biennial conference of the Civil Service Officers’ Association on Saturday, said that the officers should work for people without thinking about contempt of court.
His comments became viral on social media, especially after Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee tagged a video clip of Deb’s speech in his tweet on Sunday.
In the video, CM was heard saying, “ Contempt of Court is said in such a way as if a tiger is sitting. I am the tiger. The power lies with the person who runs the government. It means that all power lies with the people. We are a ‘ by the people’s government and not ‘ by the court ‘ government.”
He made this comment while speaking on holding back promotions of public servants following a pending court matter.
In the programme, Deb also asked the officials to follow three rules, ‘niyat (intention), neeti ( principle) and niyam (regulations)’ while working and also advised them to work on their own to become exceptional.
