In an order issued by the High Court of Telangana, two IAS, two IFS, and two other officers have been charged with a case of contempt of court. The judge held them guilty of not complying with the order of the HC passed in 2009 and imposed a fine of ₹2,000 each on the officials.
The officers who were awarded jail terms and fines included D. Amoy Kumar IAS (Ranga Reddy Collector), A Santha Kumari IAS (Special Chief Secretary of Environmental Forest Sciences and Technology), R. Shobha IFS (Principal Chief Conservator of Forests), Sunitha M. Bhagwat IFS (Principal Chief Conservator of Forests), Janaki Ram (Divisional Forest Officer) and S. Tirupathi Rao (Additional Collector and Forest Settlement Officer).Mohd.
Sirajuddin and nine others filed the contempt of court petition in 2015 alleging that the officials failed to implement the HC orders with regard to 383 acres of land in Maheshwaram village and Mandal of Ranga Reddy district.
The dispute over rights of the said lands (survey nos. 221/1 to 222/20) started in 2008 when the Forest authorities initiated action under AP Forest Act-1967 to declare the lands as Reserve Forest. The next year, the petitioners moved the HC by filing a writ petition and challenged the decision of the Forest authorities.
The HC disposed of the petition and directed the authorities to finalize within six months the issue relating to the acquisition of lands for conversion into Reserve Forest. With the authorities not complying with the HC order, the petitioners filed a contempt of court case in 2015.
