RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, May 3: The Jharkhand High Court (JHC) today gave one-week deadline to the Jharkhand assembly secretariat to resolve the issue of the appointment of an information commissioners besides the chairman of boards and corporations, which is pending for more than three years due to absence of the leader of opposition in the assembly.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra fixed the deadline while hearing a PIL filed by the Advocates Association. The high court, while setting the deadline, made it clear that the assembly secretary will have to personally appear before the court in case the issue is not settled within a week.
Notably, the BJP had declared Babulal Marandi has leader of Opposition after the latter merged its party i.e. JVM into the BJP. However, Speaker Rabindranath Mahto did not declare Marandi as the Leader of Opposition. Instead, he is sitting over the anti-drefection case filed agajnst Marandi for more than three years.
The court deferred the hearing in the matter for a week.
Key posts in several commissions, tribunals and boards are lying vacant for a long time. It is a matter of concern for the state’s people. The matter was also raised by several ruling and opposition party legislators during the recently concluded budget session of the state assembly but despite that, the solution did not come.
Earlier on February 24 this year, the high court while hearing a PIL by Bachpan Bachao Andolan had warned the state government against any further delay in filling vacant posts of the bodies constituted for the better care of children across the state. The bodies include Juvenile Justice Board, Child Welfare Committee and State Children Protection Commission.
The high court gave a warning after it came to its notice that six posts of social members are vacant in the JJ Board. At the same time, six posts of CWC chairman are vacant. The government had submitted that the advertisement was published and applications received were scrutinized.
