HYDERABAD: For Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, the award of a Rs 10,000 fine by the Telangana High Court may have come as a rude shock on a day he was celebrating his birthday.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice N Tukaramji imposed the fine as he failed to file a counter affidavit in a batch of writ petitions pertaining to a 2016 case since he was also the principal secretary of Revenue Department, and posted the matter to January 24, 2022. The bench directed the Chief Secretary to remit the fine amount to the Prime Minister’s Covid Relief Fund.
The bench was dealing with a batch of writ petitions filed by those whose lands were acquired by the State government in 2016 under GO Ms. No 123 and 214 issued by the Revenue Department, dated July 30, 2015, and November 28, 2015, respectively.
The government acquired the lands from farmers of Gudatipally and the surrounding villages in Husnabad mandal of the erstwhile Karimnagar district to raise the storage capacity of Gouravelli Reservoir from 1.44 tmc to nine tmc.
Though the State government acquired lands, the farmers were neither paid proper compensation nor provided with a rehabilitation package for their properties as per existing norms.
On November 11, 2020, the then Chief Justice bench had directed the Principal Secretary, Revenue to file a counter affidavit in the batch of writ petitions within four weeks, failing which the Principal Secretary was directed to appear before the court. But, the Principal Secretary neither filed the counter affidavit nor appeared before the court.