State prolongs legal battle, HC snubs

CHANDIGARH: No hopes can rest on a legal system that takes light years to decide a person's fate. Worse still, when the person is dead and gone. Realizing this grim reality, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has sounded the warning bell for governments to stop mindless prosecution at the cost of public money. Triggering the court's anger is a case that has been dragging in the HC because of Punjab government's refusal to bow out despite being on slippery grounds. "It is a sheer abuse of law by the state which has been filing discriminating appeals after appeals," asserted the division bench comprising chief justice Vijender Jain and justice Jaswant Singh. The case stems from a plea filed by ML Kaushal, now dead, way back in 1985 crying for justice. While the much-harassed sub-divisional engineer with Public Works Department faced a barrage of corruption charges on the issue of construction of a storage tank, he was found "not guilty" by a vigilance inquiry in 1982. Despite being exonerated, higher-ups imposed a punishment of censure on Kaushal and he was subsequently ignored for promotion. In what amounted to an obvious prejudice against Kaushal, there was no regular departmental inquiry conducted against him ever. This vital fact seemingly captured the bench's attention, making it wonder as to "how the punishment of censure was awarded by the vigilance in the absence of a regular departmental inquiry". However, the state preferred an appeal against the HC order in 2003 which came after 18 years of the writ filed by Kaushal. The bench observed that the appeal against the HC order "does not raise even a single question of law". What makes the situation really poignant is that Kaushal is dead even as the appeal is still pending. Hopefully, his family will be adequately compensated by the state as desired by the bench too. THE TIMES OF INDIA; 28 Mar 2008, 0136 hrs IST , Vishal Sharma , TNN