The social justice bench of Supreme Court today (11 September 2015) imposed a fine of ₹ 25,000 on the woman and child development ministry of the Central Government for its failure to appoint chief of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) – a position lying vacant for last one and half year – despite its three specific orders.
Brushing aside the submission that the file for the appointment was lying in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the bench comprising of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit imposed the cost of ₹ 25,000 on the Government saying the ministry had already taken three adjournments since 2014.
Imposing the fine, the court said that the failure in appointment of chairman NCPCR was an “unexplained delay”.
“Don’t tell us PMO. We are not concerned. We will impose the cost,” Justice Lokur said rejecting a plea by Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh seeking another four weeks time.
“We don’t know. We are not concerned. It can’t take one and a half year to appoint NCPCR chairman. You speak to PMO,” the court said as Singh again tried to impress upon the court about the intricacies involved in the appointment process and the file lying pending with PMO.
Asking the ASG to go through its three orders starting from February, the court said: “If you don’t accept an appointment, then reject it” but take a decision as Singh said that thousands of vacancies were lying vacant and don’t get filled. [IANS]
