VIJAYAWADA: The AP High Court has sentenced senior IAS officer MT Krishna Babu and IPS officer Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao and three APSRTC officials to one-month imprisonment. The court said the officials have to undergo another one-week imprisonment if they fail to pay the penalty. They were asked to surrender before the Registrar (Judicial) by May 16. It also directed the Registrar to send them to prison upon their surrender.
Hearing a contempt petition, the court issued the orders on May 2. The matter pertains to a petition filed by B Surendra, a fieldman in RTC, and three others in 2020 seeking orders from the court for regularising their service. The court directed the RTC to regularise the service of the petitioners. As the court orders were not implemented, the quartet filed a contempt petition in the court.
Justice K Manmadha Rao said the RTC should have filed a petition seeking an extension of time for implementing the court orders, but it was not done, which amounts to contempt of court. The HC sentenced Principal Secretary (Transport) Krishna Babu, RTC MD Dwaraka Tirumala Rao, Tirupati RTC Regional Manager T Chengal Reddy, RTC Chief Engineer U S Srinivas and Nellore RTC Executive Engineer K Koteswara Rao to one-month imprisonment, besides imposing a fine of Rs 1,000.