File a contempt petition if Dispur hasn’t complied with earlier order wilfully: Gauhati HC

PM-Kisan Nidhi Scam

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: A division of the Gauhati High Court comprising Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Kaushik Goswami dismissed a PIL (76/2024) relating to the PM Kisan Nidhi scam on the ground of not being maintainable. This PIL alleges that the respondent, the Department of Agriculture, Assam, has not complied with the order of this court issued on November 25, 2022, in a PIL (73/2020). The bench, however, asked the petitioner that ‘if the said directions (on the former PIL) have not been complied with by the respondent authorities, the appropriate course for the petitioner is to file a contempt petition alleging wilful disobedience of the directions of this Court by the respondents.’

The core contention raised in the petition (73/2020) filed by Amguri Naba Nirman Samity is that the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKSN for short) scheme, which is meant for the benefit of small and marginal landholder farmer families, has not been effectively implemented, and poor genuine farmers, who are the great resource of socio-economic development of the country, have been deprived of their right to obtain financial assistance of the PMKSN scheme launched by the Central Government in the year 2019.

In that PIL (73/2020), the High Court issued the following directions:

(i) That the State Government shall take appropriate action against the erring officers and shall also take into consideration the one-man inquiry report.

(ii) The State Government shall strictly adhere to the guidelines for providing the benefit to appropriate beneficiaries.

(iii) The respondent authority shall implement the scheme in letter and spirit and in accordance with the law.

(iv) The respondent authority shall adhere to the statements made in the affidavits, more particularly, the affidavit dated September 13, 2022.

Also Read: PM-KISAN in Assam: A boon or a missed opportunity?

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