New Delhi, October 28
Taking serious view of the Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh Governments’ failure to file replies regarding inclusion of environmental studies in the school and college curricula, the Supreme Court today issued contempt notices to Chief Secretaries of these states, saying there was deliberate disobedience of its order.
A Bench comprising Mr Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Mr Justice B.P. Singh directed the Chief Secretaries of the three states to submit their replies by September 25 why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for “deliberate disobedience” of its directives.
The Chief Secretaries of the
these states were directed to appear before Court on September 25.
Rejecting the plea by counsel for the three states that the notices were not served on them, the court said this was no excuse as the notices were directed to be served through the advocates.
The court had sought replies from the states on September 22 whether they had implemented its 1991 order regarding inclusion of environmental studies in the school and college syllabi.
The court had on that day also imposed a cost of Rs 15,000 on Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal and Goa for not responding to its notices.
At the same time it had issued fresh notices to Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and the remaining other states which could not be served the notices issued earlier.
The issue of non-implementation of the court’s 1991 directives for inclusion of environmental studies in the education curricula from the academic year 1992-93 by the states, was brought before the court by environment activist advocate M.C. Mehta.
While issuing notices to the states, the court had made it amply clear that if the affidavits were not filed within the stipulated time, the Chief Secretaries of each state would be held responsible.
