VIJAYAWADA: Taking serious exception to the ‘contempt of the court’ by senior IAS officer N Gulzar, who is currently on Central deputation, the Andhra Pradesh High Court issued a showcause notice to him.
Hearing a contempt petition filed against Gulzar, Justice G Ramakrishna Prasad expressed his ire over the IAS officer. The court said Gulzar, who has no respect for the judicial system, is not fit for government service. “Gulzar made a mockery of the judicial system by not only violating the existing laws, but also ignoring the court directions. He crossed the ‘Lakshman Rekha’ of Executive,” the bench said.
The Court said as per the preliminary evidence, the officer is not only unfit for government services, but should also be subjected to action under the contempt of court.
Since he is not eligible for government services, why should he not be removed from the service, it asked and issued a show cause notice. Gulzar was directed to reply within two weeks. Further, the High Court registry was directed to register a contempt of court cases against him suo-motu. Hearing for the same was posted to May 1. The court also cancelled the proceedings issued by Gulzar rejecting the compensatory appointment to petitioner Srinivas in 2022 and directed the officials concerned to take a decision on the petition in four weeks.
It is to be recalled that B Saraswathi Devi, working with the commercial tax department, died and her younger son B Srinvias applied for compensatory appointment. Citing that his father is taking the pension and as Srinivas’s age has crossed the age limit, his application was rejected. In 2021, he challenged the proceedings and the single judge bench asked him to apply afresh and directed the officials concerned to take action in four weeks.
However, with no action from the government, Srinivas filed a contempt petition. While the hearing of the petition was underway, the then Finance Secretary Gulzar issued proceedings rejecting the application. Since the orders were issued, the court dismissed the contempt plea. Srinivas once again knocked the doors of the HC for justice and hearing his petition, Justice Ramakrishna Prasad found fault with the officer and observed that the officer had intentionally ignored the court directions.