NEW DELHI: Supreme Courtroom on Monday took sturdy exception to bureaucrats’ wives having fun with posts in societies functioning throughout the administrative jurisdictions of their husbands and mentioned such practices, a product of colonial mindset, should be forthwith discarded.
What irked a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan was the vindictive motion not directly taken by the district Justice of the Peace of Bulandshahr, the place it had been a customized since inception in 1957 until 2019 to make the spouse of the officiating district Justice of the Peace or his nominee maintain the workplace of president of the Zila Mahila Samiti, Bulandshahr.
The overall physique of the Samiti in Jan 2020 by a majority amended the bylaws and determined to not give its presidency to the DM’s spouse by recognising her solely as a patron. This alteration was authorised by the deputy registrar of societies. After election to all posts, together with the president, was held in Sept 2022, the deputy registrar despatched a show-cause discover based mostly on a secret inquiry by town Justice of the Peace, who alleged that articles of affiliation of the Samiti had been illegally amended to gobble up the property of the organisation.
Showing for the Samiti, senior advocate Tapesh Kumar Singh mentioned the inquiry was performed by the Justice of the Peace with out summoning any workplace bearer or a go to to the Samiti workplace. Regardless of an in depth response, the deputy registrar on Feb 17, 2023, declared the amendments unlawful with out even granting a listening to to the events. This order meant the DM’s spouse would proceed to be president of the Samiti. The physique moved Allahabad HC, which dismissed its plea.
SC took umbrage and mentioned, “Why does she want to hold the post of president of the Samiti based on her husband’s position? If she wants to be the president of the Samiti, she should join politics and contest elections.”
Showing for UP, extra solicitor common Ok M Natraj advised SC, govt desires to do away with this colonial mindset and sought its permission to take action in view of the HC order.
“The colonial mindset of giving ex-official positions to family members of administrative authorities must be erased by bringing suitable amendments through a model bylaw that would clearly define the composition of the governing body of societies,” SC mentioned. It mentioned it will make it obligatory for all societies, whether or not aided or not aided by the government, to mandatorily comply with the mannequin bylaws, failing which they might be declared non-entities underneath the regulation.
“Let an appropriate draft amendment/model bylaw be placed before the court in six weeks,” the bench mentioned, whereas restraining the Samiti to hold on its work with out the DM’s spouse being a part of the governing physique.
