Supreme Court Slams Principal Secretary Of UP Prisons Department For Making False Statement In Affidavit, Warns Of Contempt Action

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (August 20) pulled up the Principal Secretary of the Prison Administration and Reforms Department of Uttar Pradesh for making false statement in an affidavit filed before the court regarding the delay in processing a convict's plea for permanent remission.

The Court noted that the affidavit contained statements that contradicted his earlier stance that the Chief Minister's Secretariat delayed the processing of the file due to the Model Code of Conduct.

“The stand taken on oath in the said affidavit affirmed on 14th August, 2024 is completely different from the solemn statements made by the same officer which were recorded in this Court's order dated 12th August, 2024. In fact, some of the statements made in the affidavit including the statement made in clause (g) of paragraph 5 of the affidavit appear to be false”, the Court observed.

A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih warned that it may consider issuing contempt notice for making false statement in affidavit and allowed the Principal Secretary to file an additional affidavit if he wishes to clarify his position.

“List on 27th August, 2024 when the Principal Secretary shall personally remain present. Even today, the Principal Secretary is present in Court. We are putting him to notice that we may consider of issuing a notice of criminal contempt to him. If he wants to file further affidavit, he is free to file the same till the next date.”

The Court had last week (August 12, 2024) directed the Principal Secretary to place on affidavit his oral stance that the UP Chief Minister Secretariat refused to accept the file regarding remission plea of petitioner Ashok Kumar citing Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

In the affidavit, Principal Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh stated that the Standing Counsel for UP did not communicate to him a court order dated May 13, 2024. By this order, the Court granted one month's time to UP government to decide the remission plea and clarified that MCC will not come in the way of deciding remission.

Singh in the affidavit said that the order was communicated to his office through the office of Jail Superintendent on May 25, 2024 through email, but it was taken note by the concerned section officer on June 06, 2024.

However, the bench pointed out that Singh had not made this statement when he appeared in court last week through video conferencing. Justice Oka pointed out that last week when he appeared before the Court, Singh said that the order was communicated and that CM Secretariat did not accept the file due to MCC.

“He has made false statement. He did not tell us that the order was not communicated. We will issue contempt notice for filing false statement. And we do not appreciate him blaming the Standing Counsel”, Justice Oka said during the hearing.

The Supreme Court perused Singh's affidavit and the file submitted by the Additional Solicitor General on behalf of the State Government. The Court observed that the file remained stagnant even after the Court's direction on May 13, 2024. The file showed no movement until June 6, 2024, four days after the MCC ended, the Court noted.

The Court highlighted that the affidavit gave the impression that the file had been forwarded to the Governor from the concerned Minister without mentioning that it was sent to the office of the CM on August 5, 2024. From the file's record, the Court noted that it was sent to CM on August 5, 2024 and signed by him the same day. The file was then signed by the Governor on August 13, 2024.

The Court remarked that Singh's oral statement last week that the file was delayed by the CM Secretariat due to the MCC, appeared to be accurate based on the file's records.

“Thus, a complete breach of the order dated 13th May, 2024 is writ large on the file. In fact, the statement which was orally made by the Principal Secretary on the last date that the file was kept pending because of the Code of Conduct appears to be fully correct as can be seen from the file”, the Court observed.

The Court granted temporary bail to the petitioner, directing him to be presented before the Trial Court to set appropriate bail conditions and granted him liberty to amend his petition within a week to challenge the order rejecting his remission plea.

The Court scheduled the matter on August 27, 2024, directing the Principal Secretary to be present in court.

Senior Advocate Purvish Jitender Malkan and Advocate CK Rai (AOR) represented the petitioner.

ASG KM Nataraj appeared for State of UP.

Case no. – Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 134/2022

Case Title – Ashok Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.

Click Here To Read/Download Order