In a significant development, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has issued bailable warrants against four senior IAS officers and an engineer from the Irrigation Department for failing to comply with the court’s orders and for not appearing in a contempt petition hearing. The court has directed the district Superintendents of Police to execute the warrants and ensure that the officials are produced before the court on November 27.
The case stems from a petition filed by PVR Structures India Pvt Ltd, which contended that bills amounting to ₹66.36 lakh for clearing weeds in the canals of the Godavari Eastern Delta had not been paid, despite the company submitting work completion certificates issued by the competent authority. The High Court had earlier directed the government to clear these dues, but no action was taken.
The officials named in the contempt petition include Sashibhushan Kumar, former Principal Secretary (Irrigation), SS Rawat, Principal Secretary (Finance), Kritika Shukla, District Collector of Kakinada, Himanshu Shukla, District Collector of Amalapuram, and DV Ram Gopal, Executive Engineer (Irrigation).
On a previous occasion, the court had instructed the officials to clear the pending bills by October 15 or appear in court. As neither action was taken, Justice Nimmagadda Venkateswarlu issued the bailable warrants. The case is scheduled for its next hearing on November 27.
