The "babudom" of bureaucracy is symbolic of the colonial mindset and a major obstacle to attaining the goal of becoming a developed nation, the Delhi High Court has observed, underlining it is high time such mentality is shunned for good and citizens are liberated from "carcinogenic tendencies".
The high court's strong observations came while dealing with the plea of a farmer whose application for allotment of an alternative land parcel has been pending with the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for the last 35 years.
The court said it was disturbing that such an approach adopted by the officers concerned and their failure to discharge their duty has led to the filing of a plethora of petitions before the high courts across the country, thereby adding to the pendency and backlog of cases and burdening the judiciary.
"Today, India is celebrating the Amrit Kaal of 75 years of its Independence, and marching ahead shunning the shackles of servitude, and with fresh vigour and greater conviction to become a developed nation. The Babudom of the bureaucracy is symbolic of the colonial mindset, and a major obstacle to attainment of this goal.
"It is high time that the mindset is shunned away for good, and the people of this country are liberated from such carcinogenic tendencies and vestiges of the colonial past," Justice Chandra Dhari Singh said in an order passed on Monday.
The high court said it had "regretfully" remarked even in its earlier order that the situation depicted a sad state of affairs and travesty of justice that representations of citizens of this country have been reduced to mere pieces of paper and the system kept on moving, in its usual snail speed, being least bothered about their grievances.
Consequently, their applications have remained stacked in files for decades and decades, it said.
Farmer Ishwar Singh had approached the high court with a plaint that his land at Maidangarhi was acquired by DDA in 1987 and though he had received compensation, his application for allotment of an alternative plot was still pending.
The high court had, in its August order, directed the authorities to decide the application within 15 days, failing which the officials concerned shall present themselves before it.
The court said despite its observations, which should have led to an introspection by the officials concerned, they have failed to comply with the directions to decide the farmer's application and have not even paid heed to the intimation and reminder given by DDA's counsel.
"This is an open and wilful breach of the authority of this court and cannot be tolerated. The conduct of the officers is highly objectionable and it is evident that both the officials outrightly and wilfully demeaned and disobeyed the order of this court. In addition to failing to discharge their duty, the concerned officials have prima facie committed contempt of court," the bench said.
The high court said any conscientious citizen of the country would be pained by such contumacious conduct and as long as the rule of law breathes in this land, so long will the quote "Be ye never so high, the law is above you".
It said the orders passed by a constitutional court being violated at the sweet will of the officials openly breaches the spirit of the rule of law.
"Despite the clear directions of this court, neither the application of the petitioner, which has been pending for more than 3 decades, has been decided nor the concerned officials bothered to be present before this court.
"This is despite the fact that the counsel for the respondents intimated and even reminded them to remain present before this court. The said officials did not even take the pain to seek time for extension of the period prescribed nor any application has been filed for exemption from personal appearance. This clearly depicts the high-headedness of the officials namely - Vice-Chairman, DDA and Secretary, Land and Building Department," it said.
On Tuesday, the two officials appeared before the court which granted them six weeks to decide the application.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
