Delhi High Court holds Delhi Chief Secretary, other bureaucrats guilty of contempt of court

The Delhi High Court has held Delhi Chief Secretary, its Special Commissioner (Transport) and the Labour Secretary guilty of contempt of court..Justice Rekha Palli held that these officials willfully disobeyed orders passed by a division bench in December 2017.The Division Bench had directed the government to make necessary amendments to the agreements entered into with private players running public transport buses in the national capital and increase the wages of the staff.Justice Palli noted that even though the government’s review petition and the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed in the Supreme Court against the order were dismissed, the orders of the division bench have not been implemented in its true sense. .The Court held that the directions issued by the division bench were “crystal clear” and the respondents (contemnors) were expected to effectuate necessary amendments to the formula by working out the amount payable to each cluster individually.“In the light of the aforesaid, I am of the opinion that in the present case, all the four pre-conditions for holding the respondents guilty of contempt are made out,” the court concluded.It added,“While exercising contempt jurisdiction this Court has to keep in mind that the very purpose of the law of contempt is meant to serve public interest and build confidence in the judicial process. In the present case, the respondents, despite having repeatedly failed in their challenge to the order passed by the Division Bench are deliberately attempting to circumvent and undermine the unambiguous directions issued by the Division Bench. It is therefore necessary to deal with the respondents with a heavy hand.”.The Court then listed the matter for arguments on sentence on July 14. The contemnors were ordered to remain present before the court on the said date..Senior Advocate Sushil Dutt Salwan and advocate Aditya Garg appeared for the petitioners.Respondents were represented through advocates Avishkar Singhvi, Naved Ahmed and Vivek Kumar..[Read Order]