State chief secretary Manoj Pant appeared virtually before a Calcutta High Court division on Wednesday and sought a week to inform the court when the govern- ment would be able to sanction 53 files sent by the judiciary for the development of infrastruc- ture in the high court and the subordinate courts.

Pant had appeared before the court virtually last week. Replying to a question by Justice Debangshu Basak, the senior judge on the bench, the chief secretary said: "Total 14 files relating to develop ment of subordinate courts have already been sanctioned and sent to finance depart- ment for disbursement of funds."

Justice Basak asked the chief secretary: "How many days will your government take to clear all the files? Do you know several district courts did not have the money to purchase stationery?"

"The judge also said: "Each lower court was supposed to be handed over 5 lakh a month for regular expenses. These courts are receiving *2.5 lakh a month. How will the courts run?"

Pant sought more time to address the issues.

Justice Basak added that the high court was supposed to turn into a 'paperless court' in February. "Why has the pro- ject yet to be implemented?" he asked.

The judge continued: "The posts of a good number of employees, either in the high court or in courts below, are lying vacant for years. Even after repeated requests, vacancies have not been filled.

"The high court adminis- tration had approached the state for the appointment of at least two officers to liaise with judicial administration for the sake of timely disbursement of pensions and other statu- tory dues of court employees. But the state is yet to respond to the issue."

The bench fixed September 24 as the next hearing of the case and said: "Please do something positive so the court should not sum- mon you and your officers further."

Justice Mohammad Shabbar Rashidi was the other judge on the bench.