SSC: Cal HC dismisses contempt plea over SC order

Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday dismissed a contempt application filed against the non-compliance of the Supreme Court order on the termination of services of 25,752 SSC 2016 appointees. A division bench of justices Debangsu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi held that since the matter was with Supreme Court, the apex court would deal with the contempt plea.These appeals involved allegations that the state education department and the SSC had failed to comply with court orders, such as uploading OMR sheets and recovering salaries from individuals whose appointments had been deemed invalid."An order passed in writ jurisdiction is enforced through a contempt proceeding primarily on the principle that non-adherence or non-compliance with the writ issued tends to degrade the dignity and majesty of the court issuing the writ. In the... present case, the ultimate writ was issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, and therefore a contempt petition would not lie before this court to enforce such an order, unless specifically empowered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court," the division bench noted.The bench added that Article 215 of the Constitution had empowered the high court to punish for its contempt and not that of Supreme Court, without the latter's request