Delhi High Court imposes 50K costs on Centre for non-compliance of orders in corruption case

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday imposed costs of ₹50,000 on the Central government for failing to comply with its earlier orders in a case concerning serious allegations against government officers (Harvir Singh v. CBI)..Justice Subramonium Prasad observed that the government was taking the Court for granted: "I'm giving two days time to file response, subject to ₹50,000 costs. This is taking the Court for granted I'm passing an order to fix responsibility on officer who has caused this delay," the judge said. .In October 2021, the High Court had lamented the Central government's lackadaisical approach in filing a response in the case.Justice Prasad had ordered the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Culture to join the court proceedings on the next date of hearing to explain why a status report called for by the Court has not been filed."This Court is aware of that it is not proper to summons Senior Officers to the Court. But at the same time, the government cannot show a lackadaisical approach to the orders of the Court and disobey orders of this Court," he had said.The Court had observed that despite a series of adjournments and time having been given to the Centre to file the status report, the same had not been filed..The petitioner had moved the High Court seeking directions to the Central government to conduct a proper and fair investigation in an alleged corruption scandal.The plea stated that the accused government officers were liable for offences under Section 120B (conspiracy) read with Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as provisions of the Prevention of Corruption of Act.."Lackadaisical approach:" Delhi High Court pulls up Centre for delay in filing counter