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Tamil Nadu
By A. Subramani
Hitting out at the Government for acting as if `it was the boss of all finances', he said: "We will have to close down courts. We will say the Government is not financially sound. We will address constitutional functionaries to invoke financial emergency. We will do it". Mr. Justice Reddy made these remarks when a letter from the Registrar-General of the High Court, which was later taken up as a writ petition, came up before the First Bench comprising him and Justice K. Ravirajapandian for hearing, after many an adjournment. In his April 3, 2002 letter, the Registrar-General had sought appointment of court staff and sanction of more funds for judiciary infrastructure. But his request was turned down by the Government on the ground that there was a freeze on recruitments and that it was reeling under a severe financial crunch. The Chief Justice said: "We are tired of all this. This Government thinks that the purse exclusively belongs to it.'' During my one-and-half years of Chief Justiceship, it is seen that the Government is unable to distinguish between the State and the Government. That is the difficulty. A Government is only one of the organs of the State. This attitude (of the Tamil Nadu Government) has to change.
AG summoned "You are not giving any charity. By appointing enough staff members and granting funds you are only fulfilling your constitutional obligations. Do you think that you are the boss of all finances? ," asked Mr. Justice Reddy and summoned the Advocate-General, N.R. Chandran. When Mr. Chandran rushed to the court, the Chief Justice asked him how the courts would function without enough stenographers, typists and subordinate judicial officers. The AG, however, said he would make his submissions on Tuesday after getting instructions from the Government. The matter was then posted to Tuesday.
`Civic amenities poor'
That was not all. Earlier in the day, when a public interest litigation petition seeking restoration of two-way traffic on South Usman Road at T. Nagar here came up for hearing, Mr. Justice Reddy wanted to know from the Government Pleader what had been done by the Government/Corporation to improve civic conditions in Chennai. "The roads, drainage and drinking water provisions, originally planned for a population of five lakhs, have not been improved though Chennai is the fourth most important city in the country with a population of about 75 lakhs". Referring to a recent visit by Corporation officials' to Hyderabad, Mr. Justice Reddy asked: "What efforts have they taken after they returned? Your officials must have eaten Hyderabad briyani and returned. What is the work done by them?" When the Chief Justice said that something should be done to improve city traffic scenario, the Pleader said the Government was formulating schemes. To this, he said, "if you are framing schemes, you must inform the court detailing what steps you have taken".
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