SC cracks whip on 6 states for contempt of court

New Delhi, May 18 (UNI) The Supreme Court today directed the Chief Secretaries of six states to file their responses on a petition seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against them for not complying with the judgements of the apex court dated September 22, 2006, issued to improve the functioning of police in the country.

A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices B P Singh and G P Mathur issued directions to the Chief Secretaries of Gujarat, Jammu&Kashmir, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh on a petition filed by former UP DGP Parkash Singh, based on which the directions were issued.

The petitioner had also prayed to the court to appoint a monitoring committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge assisted by two other people to oversee the implementation of the above mentioned directions issued on September 22, 2006 and January 11, 2007.

The petitioner, accusing the six states of deliberately flouting the orders of this court, also sought directions to the Centre and to those states and Union Territories, which have shown partial compliance to fully implement the directions of the honourable court.

The states showing partial compliance of the orders are Andhra Pradesh, Asom, Himachal Pradesh and Orissa.

These states can file their response till the reopening of the apex court on July 9 after the summer vacations when the matter shall come up for hearing.

UNI