Two days after Chief Justice of India (CJI) B R Gavai expressed his disappointment at the absence of senior state officials at a felicitation event held in his honour during his first visit to the state after taking office, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday accorded “permanent guest” status to the CJI.
In a circular issued by the state government, it chalked out the protocol to be followed by the state administration and officers during CJI’s visit to Maharashtra. The circular issued by the General Administration Department headed by Chief Minister strictly directs the authorities to follow the instructions in letter and spirit.
The circular has made it mandatory for the chief secretary, the Director General of Police or their representatives to be present during CJI’s visit to .
The circular reads, “Henceforth, CJI will be entitled permanent guest status… All the protocols, including presence of senior IAS/ IPS officers of departments concerned, will have to be adhered during CJI’s visit in Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra.”
In other districts of Maharashtra, it has made it compulsory for the senior most district administration officers, police commissioner and their representatives to attend to the CJI whenever he/she visits their respective districts. According to the circular, if any VVIP is visiting the districts, it will be mandatory for the departments concerned to depute a coordinating officer as was in practice. A district officer of Class I grade has to be deputed for coordination.
During his first visit after taking over as CJI on May 14 to his home state of Maharashtra on Sunday, about the absence of senior state officials. “Every organ of the Constitution must… give its due respect to the other,” he said at the event organised by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa.
“We say that there are three pillars of democracy — judiciary, legislature and executive, and that they are equal. Every organ of the Constitution must reciprocate and give its due respect to the other organs. A person from Maharashtra is coming to the state as Chief Justice of India for the first time. If Maharashtra’s Chief Secretary, the state’s Director General of Police or the Mumbai Commissioner of Police do not feel it necessary to come, it is for them to think about, ” he said.
Later, Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik, DGP Rashmi Shukla and Mumbai Commissioner of Police P Deven Bharti were present when CJI Gavai visited Chaityabhoomi to pay tribute to Dr BR Ambedkar.
Stating he was not particular about protocol and preferred travelling to his hometown Amravati and Nagpur without pilot escort, CJI Gavai said, “It is a question of respect towards the judiciary by other organs. If the head of an institution is coming to the state for the first time and he is from the state itself, whether their conduct was proper, is something they should think about.”
