Agitated by the delay of funds for around 100 proposals by the state, the Madras High court on Thursday asked the Tamil Nadu government whether they were proposing to declare a financial emergency in the state, The Times of India reported.
The judge said that the state higher judiciary was unable to create infrastructure and had to postpone two training programmes for judiciary officers, the TOI report adds.
The court also outlined its concern on whether the state was facing a financial emergency and proposed to declare it as such, in which case, funding for all aspects of governance would be affected.
In such a scenario, Article 360 of the constitution will come into play. Moreover, the executive authority of the Union would extend to giving directions to any state to observe such cannons of financial propriety as may be specified in the directions.
The court has also asked for an affidavit from the financial secretary of Tamil Nadu.
The court order came after a counter-affidavit filed by the state government, which did not promise a release of funds for the judiciary or set a time frame to take decisions on the pending proposals.
The bench said that an additional sum of Rs 35 lakhs was approved by the government, but has not been given.
The case has been posted to November 30.