Patna: Observing that the Bihar government was heartless, the Patna High Court on October 24 pilloried the state government for not initiating steps for early disbursement of Rs 50 crore deposited in the court for distribution among employees of 19 sick public sector undertakings (PSUs).

"The employees of these closed PSUs are dying of hunger. Their children are being deprived of celebrating festivals for want of money. But, the state government is sitting pretty and not even providing office and secretariat to a three-member committee constituted by the court for disbursement of money among the staff. It appears the state government has become heartless," a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ravi S Dhavan and Justice Shashank Kumar Singh observed.

When Registrar General of the court informed the Bench that the state's Chief Secretary K A H Subramanian felt a meeting between the Chief Minister and Chief Justice could resolve the issue, Dhavan asked the Registrar General to convey to the CS that he was prepared for talks with Chief Minister anytime and anywhere. "I am spending sleepless nights because of the plight of the employees."

The judges' angry reaction followed state counsel Ashok Kumar Singh telling the court that he has read in the newspapers that the government has agreed to provide office and secretariat to the three- member court committee headed by retired Judge Uday Sinha but has not received any official communique.

PTI