CHENNAI: The Madras High Court sentenced a district revenue officer to a month’s imprisonment in a civil prison for willfully disobeying the orders of the court in connection with the alleged scam in distribution of compensation for Open Space Reservation (OSR) land acquired for Chennai-Bengaluru expressway at Sriperumbudur taluk in Kancheepuram.
Justice R Suresh Kumar passed the orders to punish Narmadha, who served as special DRO for land acquisition, on the contempt of court petition filed by Rajendran, a resident of Sriperumbudur taluk.
The charge against her is that she had disbursed compensation amount to ineligible persons even after the court had ordered depositing the amount for the OSR land in a nationalised bank in the name of the Registrar General (RG) of the High Court.
Based on a writ petition filed by Rajendran, the court, on February 10, 2020, passed an interim order directing the special DRO to assess the amount payable for the OSR land and deposit the due amount in a nationalised bank in the name of the RG.
However, ignoring the order, she had disbursed compensation to several persons. In the meantime, the CB-CID registered a case on the matter and retrieved around Rs 20 crore. The court refused to accept the unconditional apology tendered by the DRO saying if it is accepted, it will set a bad precedent.