HYDERABAD: In a relief to some senior officials, including two IAS officers, a division bench of Telangana High Court on Wednesday stayed the order of a single judge who passed orders against these officials in two contempt cases.
The single judge had earlier expressed his displeasure with the authorities concerned for wilful disobedience of earlier orders of the court regarding the acquisition of the petitioners’ land in Vemulaghat village in Siddipet district under Mallanna Sagar reservoir which is part of mammoth Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project.
Last month, the single judge had sentenced special deputy collector (land acquisition) cum revenue divisional officer Jayachandra Reddy to two months imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 in two contempt cases. Besides, the single judge imposed fine of Rs 2,000 on two IAS officers — Siddipet district collector P Venkatarami Reddy and the then district collector Krishna Bhaskar, presently collector of Rajanna Sircilla, and directed them to pay in four weeks else they should undergo imprisonment for one month.
The judge also ordered that an adverse entry should be recorded in the service records of them.
The special counsel of TS A Sanjeev Kumar contended that the officials concerned have complied with the orders of the single judge.
After granting stay, the bench transferred the matter to Green bench for adjudication.