In a sensational ruling, the Telangana High Court has sentenced two collectors and another government official on charges of contempt of court. The court ruled that they would be sentenced to imprisonment for a period of three months.
The convicted officials are Rajanna Sircilla district collector D Krishna Bhaskar, the then joint collector Yasmin Basha, who is now collector of Wanaparthy district and Srinivasa Rao, who is the land acquisition official then. The petitioners have complained that the Telangana government had acquaired 69.22 acres in 2017 without following the due procedure of law. They said that the officials did not hold gram sabhas and did not accept the complaints from the land-losing farmers.
The court had then ruled in favour of the farmers. However, the government officials had assured the court that they would give the R and R package in accordance with the law. But, they only played the ex-gratia and did not pay the relief and rehabilitation package. The petitioners appealed to the court seeking relief.The court found the three officials to have been involved in the contempt of the court and handed an imprisonment for three months.
However, to enable the officials to appeal in the higher court, the court has suspended the punishment but asked the authorities to record the punishment in their service records.
The convicted officials are Rajanna Sircilla district collector D Krishna Bhaskar, the then joint collector Yasmin Basha, who is now collector of Wanaparthy district and Srinivasa Rao, who is the land acquisition official then. The petitioners have complained that the Telangana government had acquaired 69.22 acres in 2017 without following the due procedure of law. They said that the officials did not hold gram sabhas and did not accept the complaints from the land-losing farmers.
The court had then ruled in favour of the farmers. However, the government officials had assured the court that they would give the R and R package in accordance with the law. But, they only played the ex-gratia and did not pay the relief and rehabilitation package. The petitioners appealed to the court seeking relief.The court found the three officials to have been involved in the contempt of the court and handed an imprisonment for three months.
However, to enable the officials to appeal in the higher court, the court has suspended the punishment but asked the authorities to record the punishment in their service records.