The Supreme Court directed the Registrar (Judicial) to conduct a fact-finding enquiry after the Registry failed to issue notice to the Enforcement Directorate despite an earlier judicial direction.
Supreme Court Takes Serious View Of Registry Lapse
The Supreme Court on Monday took serious note of an apparent lapse by its Registry.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi expressed displeasure after finding that the Registry had not issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) despite a specific judicial direction.
The Court also directed a fact-finding enquiry into the matter.
Office Report Did Not Reflect Court’s Direction
During the hearing, the Bench noted that its earlier order had clearly directed issuance of notice to the ED.
However, the Registry’s office report stated that the Court had issued no such direction.
This mismatch between the judicial order and the office report drew sharp criticism from the Bench.
CJI Criticises Registry Functioning
The Chief Justice expressed strong dissatisfaction over the lapse.
The Bench made the observation after it found that the Registry had failed to properly record and act on the Court’s earlier direction.
Registrar Judicial Directed To Conduct Enquiry
The Supreme Court directed the Registrar (Judicial) to conduct a fact-finding enquiry.
The Registrar must explain how the Registry failed to reflect the judicial direction in its records.
The Court also sought an explanation on why the Registry did not issue notice to the Enforcement Directorate.
CJI Had Earlier Raised Similar Concerns
This is not the first time the CJI has raised concerns about the Registry’s functioning.
Earlier, the Chief Justice had also expressed unhappiness over administrative issues in the Registry.
At that time, he observed that the matter required a “deeper probe” after noticing that similar matters were being listed before different Benches.
