The Supreme Court recently imposed a fine of ₹5 lakh on the Uttar Pradesh government for acting in defiance of its orders in the case of Ashok vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and Anr.
A Bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih, while closing contempt proceedings against an official from the State’s Prisons Department, expressed its dissatisfaction with the government’s conduct. The contempt case arose due to the delay in processing a convict’s premature release (remission) application. Although the convict was eventually released after the Court intervened, the Bench noted that the delay was unacceptable.
In its September 27 ruling, the Court stated, “We do not feel it appropriate to waste time on such issues. We are adopting this approach as though belatedly, justice has been done to the petitioner.” The Court emphasized that magnanimity was being shown to avoid further waste of judicial resources, despite the misconduct.
However, the Court firmly criticized the Uttar Pradesh government, stating, “We deprecate the conduct of the State and its officers in defying the orders of the Court. They have shown complete disregard and disrespect to the orders of the Court. The conduct of the State Government is such that it must be saddled with costs.”
The ₹5 lakh in costs is to be deposited with the Uttar Pradesh State Legal Services Authority within a month.
The case drew attention when the Court had earlier ordered the convict’s release on temporary bail after noting significant delays in the processing of his remission file. Despite a deadline set by the Supreme Court on May 13, 2023, the State failed to meet the timeline.
During the hearings, a prisons official, Rajesh Kumar Singh, initially cited delays from the State Secretariat and the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) as the reasons. However, an affidavit later contradicted these claims, leading the Court to view the situation seriously. On August 20 and 28, the Court had questioned why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against the official for providing false explanations regarding the delay.
