Lagatar24 Desk
While hearing its suo motu case on protection of judges taken up in light of the recent death of a Dhanbad judge Uttam Anand, the Supreme Court on Tuesday warned state governments that it would impose costs of ?1 lakh for failure to file counter affidavits detailing measures for protection, within a week.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose stated in its order that costs of rupees one lakh will be imposed on states who fail to file a counter affidavit within a week. The court also said that the Chief Secretaries of those states who fail to file an affidavit will be present.
Appearing for the Central government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had already issued guidelines for the safety of judges back in 2007.
CJI Ramana then asked Mehta that the Centre can call states and take a decision on how the problem will be dealt with.
The Solicitor General replied, “We have said it may not be advisable or possible to have a national level security force for judges as state level cadre will come into these specialised forces…instead of creating a specialised or dedicated police force there is need to ensure fuller implementation of guidelines by MHA for states and UTs.”
The Court ultimately granted one week’s time to filed counter affidavits.
Notably, the Supreme Court on July 30 registered a suo motu case on safeguarding courts and ensuring protection and security of judges after the killing of Judge Uttam Anand in Dhanbad.
