High court imposes Rs 10k cost on Bihar govt for delay in reply

PATNA: The Patna high court on Thursday imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on the state government as it failed to file a supplementary counter affidavit within a week in a case pertaining to promotion of a cop which is pending for more than two decades.
On November 18 this year, a week’s time was granted to the DGP-cum-departmental promotion committee chairman by a bench of justice P B Bajanthri for filing a detailed affidavit detailing whether petitioner Rama Kant Ram, who was promoted to the rank of inspector from sub-inspector with effect from September 23, 1998, was eligible for promotion with effect from September 26, 1995 or not.
The high court had also directed the DGP to reply in the same affidavit that if the petitioner was not promoted from the date as contested by him, what was the reason for it. The petitioner had opted for Jharkhand cadre after bifurcation of Bihar and become an officer of Jharkhand police afterwards.
He had filed a writ petition in the Patna high court on December 11, 1998 that he was eligible for promotion with effect from September 26, 1995, the date from when his juniors were promoted, under reserved category of scheduled caste, but he was given promotion after a delay of three years. Counsel Jagannath Singh represented the petitioner.
Appearing for the state government, additional advocate general S D Yadav prayed for four weeks’ additional time for filing the affidavit which irked the court.