'Unless courts assert, nothing moves at the executive and bureaucratic level in the country,' the Supreme Court oberved
"Unless courts assert, nothing moves at the executive and bureaucratic level in the country," the Supreme Court Tuesday observed as it chided the states for failing to set up special CBI courts to tackle corruption despite the Prime Minister's directive to this effect.
"If states do not cooperate then we will ask the chief secretaries to be present in the courts at the next date of hearing at their own costs. Unless courts in this country assert, nothing moves at the executive and bureaucratic level in the country," a bench of justices GS Singhvi and SD Mukhopdhyaya said.
It warned that if defaulting states failed to file proper replies and take steps for notifying CBI courts, their chief secretaries would have to appear in person "at their own costs."
"Should we take it that the states are not interested in eradicating corruption when the highest political executive the Hon'ble Prime Minister himself has been very keen to eradicate it?", the bench said.
The apex court passed the direction after Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra presented in the court data relating to functioning of the special courts in pursuant to the advice of the Prime Minister in July 2009 to the states for setting up special CBI courts to deal with increasing graft cases.
Senior counsel Ashok Bhan appearing for Delhi Government said that out of the 15 sanctioned CBI courts in the capital, nine were already functioning and the remaining would be operationalised shortly.
The defaulting states are AP, Delhi, Gujarat, West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Goa.
Malhotra told the apex court that in all 71 special CBI courts were sanctioned across the country to deal specially with graft cases.
According to the official figures the following are the sanctioned courts which the respective defaulting States failed to set up: AP(5), Delhi(6), Gujarat(2), West Bengal(3), Orissa(4), Assam(2) Goa and Chattisgarh (one each).
The apex passed the direction while dealing with an appeal filed by the CBI challenging a Gujarat High Court order which had stayed the transfer of an agency official probing certain tax evasion case by oil companies in the state.
The bench posted the matter for further hearing to Thursday.
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