HYDERABAD: Justice EV Venugopal of the Telangana High Court has issued Form-I notices in a contempt of court case to several senior state officials for “wilful violation” of earlier court orders directing the release of pending dues amounting to Rs 1.16 crore.
The notices were issued to Sundeep Kumar Sultania, IAS, principal secretary to the government; N Sridhar, principal secretary, Finance department, represented by the special chief secretary, finance; K Kanakaratnam, engineer-in-chief, Panchayat Raj department; and three other concerned authorities. They have been directed to appear before the court on January 9.
The contempt proceedings arise from non-compliance with an order dated April 26, 2025, in which the court had directed the respondent authorities to release the admitted bill amount of Rs 1.16 crore to M/s K Anand and Company expeditiously and preferably within six weeks from the date of receipt of the order.
The court noted that the matter has been pending for a considerable period. On earlier occasions, the engineer-in-chief, Panchayat Raj department, the superintending engineer, the district panchayat raj engineer, Karimnagar, and the pay and accounts officer had appeared before the court.
Based on their assurances, their personal appearances were later dispensed with.