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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Friday deferred hearing in a Public Interest Litigation plea stating that it needs some more research, the plea has sought directions to enforce the ‘Principle of Political Neutrality’ of public servants, which prohibits them from participating in political activities.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said, "There are better issues, people are not getting jobs, I can understand that matter, people are not getting proper treatment, I can understand that matter, but this matter..."

Petitioner Sonali Tiwary’s plea filed through Advocate Aditya Raj claims that such individuals are failing to perform their duties as public servants, as defined in Section 21 (12) (a) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 2 (c) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

Senior Advocate Sanjoy Ghose appearing for Tiwary submitted that all parties are doing this, "for example, someone is handling National Commission and then he is also the spokesperson of a party."

The Court has asked the petitioner to bring some judgments in this regard and said that they'll hear the matter thereafter. Orally, the bench also asked Senior Advocate Salman Khurshid, present in the Courtroom to assist the Court.

The plea states that non-compliance with the above principle is causing huge losses to the ‘public exchequer’ and propagating political party beliefs.

The plea also seeks direction to the Central government and Delhi government to remove those who have acted/are continuing to act in willful ignorance of the principle of neutrality and who hold any official position in a political party while working as a public servant.

It further seeks the constitution of a committee for framing guidelines for the appointment of persons holding official positions in political parties as public servants.

The plea alleges that persons holding official positions in political parties are appointed to government positions and continue to engage in political activities after such appointment, which is a direct violation of the ‘principle of neutrality' and also interferes with the performance of the public servant's public duty.

The petition mentions names of political party leaders belonging to the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) who have been appointed to government posts and despite that, they continue to engage in political activities.

Tiwary states that such actions by public servants will erode public trust in public functionaries. It is also stated that public servants must demonstrate a sense of neutrality in their actions and not act as political party mouthpieces.

“The moot question that begs to be answered is why these public servants should be maintained out of the tax-payers money when in fact they have failed to uphold the sanctity of the public office and used the same for their own political gain and political agenda,” the plea states.

Furthermore, the plea reads that the persons occupying such venerated offices are expected to maintain neutrality and remain impartial in their decisions, and holding any kind of official position within a political party would negate the very purpose behind the neutrality of public servants.

It also states that a public servant's political affiliation would result in widespread abuse of public office for the public servant's political gain and the undue benefit of the political party that appointed him.

“Such impartiality and neutrality are the cornerstones of the office of a government servant as well as a public servant, however, violation of that rule would create a cloud over the decision-making of the public servant”, the plea adds.

“The concept of fundamental right of speech and expression and right to form association cannot be stretched to include within it - a right of public servants to express their political view publicly and in media and associate themselves to a specific political party”, the plea further reads.

Case Title: Sonali Tiwary v. Union of India & Ors.