Supreme Court to summon Chief Secretaries if no info is given by States on open correctional homes

The bench has directed that all the States/Union Territories, which have not yet filed their response, to do so with the complete information and within a period of four weeks.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has cautioned several States and Union Territories, which have not given complete information on setting up correctional homes, that it would be compelled to summon their Chief Secretaries if no detail was furnished by them within a period of four weeks.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K Vishwanathan considered submission by senior advocate K Parameshwar, acting as amicus curiae that the States and Union Territories of Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep, Puducherry and Ladakh have not yet filed their response.

The counsel also said the NCT of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab have not submitted qualitative and quantitative charts, despite the questionnaire indicating that these states have Open Correctional Institutes.

He also stated that the affidavits filed by the State of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu also do not contain all the requisite specific information.

The bench then directed that all the States/Union Territories, which have not yet filed their response, to do so with the complete information and within a period of four weeks.

"The registry is directed to ensure that the order is communicated to the Chief Secretaries of all the States/Union Territories concerned. We further clarify that if any of the State Governments or Union Territories do not respond in terms of the orders passed by this Court, we will be compelled to direct the presence of the Chief Secretary of the States/Union Territories concerned before this Court," the bench said.

The court fixed the matter for consideration after four weeks.