The bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam A Ankhad said this when advocate Ravi Kadam, representing the commissioner, said that despite the Bombay High Court having initiated a suo motu PIL against the BMC, one of the returning officers had tried to requisition staff from the sheriff’s office, which is also under the Court itself.
The BMC has withdrawn its notice demanding court staff after the suo motu PIL was initiated during a night hearing at the Chief Justice’s residence during the holidays.
On Monday, Kadam said, “It’s worse than it had been. Despite being ordered to withdraw communications, one of the returning officers wrote again to the sheriff’s office, which is directly under the court, requisitioning personnel. We found out on Saturday and we have withdrawn that.”
“You are writing letters to our staff, which is a very serious issue,” the chief justice said.
The Chief Justice said if the court has surplus staff, they can be requisitioned for election work but not without seeking permission. “Nothing will help you,” said the Chief Justice.
The ECI, State Election Commission and BMC Commissioner have filed affidavits on the issue.
However, the Chief Justice said, “For four days you want to withdraw 600 persons. They are all working days. How will the judiciary function? From which provision are you getting powers? Tell us the law. An affidavit will not help you.”
Kadam pointed out that the entire issue actually emanated from the state government. “The source is that when we wrote to the General Administrative Department (GAD), they gave us a list of all employees who could be requisitioned. They gave a list that included judicial personnel. That’s where the mistake happened. We should have stopped short when the chief judge communicated.”
To this, the bench said that as the BMC commissioner accepted his mistake, he must now say something to save himself from contempt.
– Ends
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