BHAKTA BAHADUR Vs. INSPECTOR GENERAL OF PRISONS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These writ petitions arise upon letters of three prisoners who have been convicted under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) and are serving their sentences. They challenge the deduction of 50% of the wages earned by them which have been appropriated to the Common Victims Compensation Fund, which has been created under Section 36-A of the Prisons Act, 1894, as amended by the Prisons (Goa Amendment) Act, 2005 and the Rules framed thereunder being the Goa Prisons Rules, 2006.

(2.) One Tommy Thomas who was convicted under the NDPS Act was allowed the entire of the wages earned by him, without deducting any amount towards the Common Victims Compensation Fund. Thereafter, another prisoner also convicted under the NDPS Act, Basudev Joshi, was not allowed the entire wages. Fifty per cent of his wages came to be deducted under the aforesaid provision of the Act and the Rules. An order came to be passed by N.A. Britto, J., as he then was, on 24th July, 2009, holding that the prisoners of the same class cannot be so discriminated. Consequently, the convict Basudev Joshi was directed to be paid the entire of his wages. The learned Judge, inter alia, observed that until the Inspector General of Prisons reconsiders the order dated 11th November, 2008 under which the contribution to the fund was to be made or it is successfully challenged, the prisoners convicted under the NDPS Act would be entitled to their entire wages.

(3.) Fortified by the said order, three prisoners who are the petitioners in the above writ petitions, came to write letters for being granted the entire of their wages or for being refunded 50% of the wages deducted by the prison authorities. These letters have been treated as writ petitions. The Inspector General of Prisons has passed another order dated 12th August, 2011, setting out the aforesaid section of the Prisoners Act, as also relevant Prisons Rules which make it obligatory for all prisoners to contribute 50% share of their wages to the Common Victims Compensation Fund. The order shows that there is no discrimination between the prisoners for making deductions or exempting them from deductions towards the Common Victims Compensation Fund and that all prisoners, including the prisoners convicted under the NDPS Act, would have victims who would be the society at large. Consequently, the earlier memorandum was withdrawn by the Inspector General of Prisons to apply prospectively. The said order dated 12th August, 2011 is not challenged.