Gauhati HC declines to enforce APSC probe report, calls it recommendatory

Guwahati, March 18: Courts cannot compel the government to implement the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the APSC cash-for-job scam as it is “recommendatory” in nature, a division bench of the Gauhati High Court has said.

“We cannot lose sight of the fact that the report of a Commission of Inquiry is recommendatory in nature as it is only a fact-finding body with its suggestions. It is trite that such recommendations are not binding on the government and, therefore, the courts cannot compel the government to implement the report. The government would be perfectly within its rights either to implement the report, or reject it, or partially implement it,” the bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury said disposing of a PIL.

The PIL was filed by Pritom Hazarika and Jon Jyoti Sarmah seeking timely action by the State authorities on the Justice (retd) BK Sharma report of inquiry.

The high court also pointed out that after 2014, every year, APSC has conducted public examinations but there has not been any reported complaint so as to question the purity of such process.

“This necessarily implies that all the remedial measures may have been taken though not stated in clear terms that such remedial measures were pursuant to the recommendations made by the commission,” the order stated.

Stating that a commission of inquiry does not adjudicate rights of the parties nor does it determine guilt in any manner of anyone concerned, the court said the report is “judicially non-enforceable and would depend on the policy choices of the government.”

“The implementation of the report would thus fall in the administrative priorities. What the court of law must ensure is that the report is properly laid before the legislature, considered by the government and in some instances, assess whether the rejection of the report is mala fide or arbitrary,” the order added.