VIJAYAWADA: In a relief to senior IAS officer MV Seshagiri Babu, former Secretary of the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE), the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on Monday issued an interim stay on the single judge verdict sentencing him to one month imprisonment and imposing a fine of Rs 2,000 on him for the contempt of court.
A division bench comprising Justice R Raghunandan Rao and Justice N Harinath, hearing the appeal of Babu against the verdict of the single judge bench headed by Justice Nimmagadda Venkateswarlu, stayed the verdict for six weeks, and adjourned the case hearing to October 21. The court further issued notices to respondent M Vijayalakshmi.
In 2023, Vijayalakshmi, working as an administrative officer in the BIE petitioned the High Court to extend her service to 62 years as the State government increased the retirement age to 62. The court directed the then BIE Secretary Babu and the then Principal Secretary (Education) Praveen Prakash to continue her service.
However, when her service was not extended, she filed a contempt petition in the High Court. Hearing her petition, Justice Venkateswarlu deemed the two officers were in the wrong, and sentenced them to one month imprisonment, besides imposing a fine `2,000 each on the duo.