In a sharp rebuke to the Jharkhand government, the Jharkhand High Court on Friday observed that the state’s constitutional machinery appears to have collapsed and accused the administration of throttling the rule of law by failing to conduct long-overdue municipal elections.
Justice Anand Sen summoned Chief Secretary Alka Tiwari to appear in person before the court on July 25 to explain the state’s non-compliance with its repeated directives, warning of contempt proceedings.
The court was hearing a contempt petition filed by former municipal ward councillor Roshni Khalko, who pointed out that despite the High Court’s categorical orders, the state government had not conducted elections for urban local bodies. The last municipal elections in Ranchi were held in April 2018, and the term of councillors expired in 2023.
Khalko had initially approached the High Court in 2023 through a writ petition after the tenure of elected ward councillors ended without fresh elections being announced. On January 4, 2024, the court directed the government to hold the elections within three weeks. However, with no progress made, Khalko filed a contempt petition on January 16, 2024.
In response to the contempt plea, the court granted the state another four months to comply. Yet, the government failed to act, prompting Friday’s stinging remarks from Justice Sen, who noted the continuing disregard for judicial orders.
“The government seems to be throttling the rule of law in Jharkhand, and there is complete breakdown of constitutional machinery,” the court observed, directing the top bureaucrat to personally explain the defiance.
