IT News
Imphal, Feb 8:
At what could be termed as a setback of the Manipur Lokayukta, the Supreme Court of India has declined to interfere with the Manipur High Court Judgement and order dated 19th December 2022.
In the Judgment order dated 19.12.2022 passed in the court of Justice M.V. Muralidharan, in respect of MC (WP(C)) No. 346 of 2022, the Manipur High Court has dismissed a case filed by Manipur Lokayukta bearing No. MC (WP(C)) No. 346 of 2022 against N. Sarat Singh, Managing Director, MSPCL, and Th. Bimol Singh as Principal Respondent to vacate, set aside, modify, and not to extend any further an interim order dated 29.09.2022 passed in W.P (C) No. 833 of 2022.
The High Court order was challenged by the Manipur Lokayukta by filing a Special Leave Petition to the Supreme Court double bench comprising Justice K. M . Joseph and Justice J. B. Pardiwala. On February 3, 2023, the double bench after listening to the counsel of Lokayukta and N. Sarat Singh, the Managing Director of the Manipur State Power Company Limited, the court in its order decline to interfere with the impugned order of the Manipur High Court.
Further, the Supreme Court also directed the Manipur High Court to dispose of the writ petition pending in the Manipur High Court within a period of three months.
Mention may be made that in the Judgment order dated 19.12.2022 passed in respect of MC (WP(C)) No. 346 of 2022, the Manipur High Court made critical observations on the conduct of the Manipur Lokayukta, that irrespective of the actual state of affairs which may not be disputed about the completion of the project in the month of August 2015 the Manipur Lokayukta was not appreciating the stand of the Government and have been insisting on making inquiry which otherwise is outside its jurisdiction thereby making it clear that Manipur Lokayukta has become an instrument at the hand of few persons who indulge in making complaints on surmises and information provided against the official documents and records. The Manipur High Court denounced such actions which indicate personal interest on part of Manipur Lokayukta which is the inquiring authority. The Judgment further remarked that such a partisan attitude of the Manipur Lokayukta has necessitated the intervention of this Court to prevent systematic harassment in the name of investigation and inquiry at the behest of vested interested individuals, thereby restoring the faith of the general public including officials working in Government establishment manning the essential service. It was also observed that no productive work was executed in the Company/Department while attending to such inquiry and investigation filed by the vested interested persons.
The judgment further observed that the Manipur High Court, as rightly argued by Mr. HS Paonam, the learned senior counsel for the principal respondents and as could be seen from the available records produced by both the parties, viewed that Manipur Lokayukta without appreciating the stand of the Government, insisted on personal appearance of the officers concerned under the guise of inquiry which prima facie is outside its jurisdiction. Therefore, the Court, upon appreciating the submissions put forth by the learned counsels of both sides granted an interim stay of the order dated 23/9/2022 passed by Manipur Lokayukta.
Further, the court observed that on perusal of the file produced by Manipur Lokayukta in respect of Complaint Case No. 5 of 2022, it was found that Ngangom Ibotombi Singh filed the Complaint before the Manipur Lokayukta on 31/8/2022 which is beyond the period of seven years as per Section 53 of the Manipur Lokayukta Act, 2014 and hence barred by limitation.
Therefore, the Manipur High Court observed that there is no valid ground to vacate and/or modify the interim order dated 29/9/2022. As such, the court found no merit in MC (WP(C)) No. 346 of 2022 and accordingly dismissed it. The court further made absolute the interim order date 29/9/2022 passed in W.P. (C) No. 833 of 2022 till the disposal of the writ petition.
