Hyderabad High Court worried over defiant bureaucrats

 

While punishing three officers of the revenue department in a contempt case, Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy felt that this attitude among public servants would lead to throwing out persons who are in actual possession of the properties by raising a false plea that they were never in possession of the property and that they were trying to occupy the same in the guise of the order of the court

 

The judge imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 each on Palvancha revenue divisional officer K. Venkateswarlu, Burghampahad tahsildar B. Sammi Reddy and G. Ramaiah, village revenue officer in Sarapaka of Khammam district, holding that they had wilfully disobeyed the court orders and demolished the temporary sheds of the petitioner.

 

The judge said that they have to pay the fine within four weeks and if they failed to pay the fine they have to undergo one week of simple imprisonment. 

 

He made it clear that in the guise of protecting government land, the authorities cannot take the law into their hands when the dispute is sub-judice and there was an order directing them not to dispossess the petitioner. 

 

The judge said, “The respondents have usurped the role of the court instead of seeking adjudication of the disputed question of possession by the court.” 

The judge said, “If such conduct of public servants is allowed to pass muster of this court, there is every scope for judicial orders being violated with impunity based on the self-adjudication by public servants regarding factum a person’s possession of the property.”

 

A PIL has been moved before the Hyderabad High Court seeking to direct the AP government to withdraw proposal to establish a greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district.

 

Sarpanch U. Siva Reddy of A. Ravivalasa village moved the PIL stating that the erstwhile AP government had made a proposal in 2012 to set up the greenfield airport at Visakhapatnam on the ground that the existing airport was not suitable for operatiing large aircraft.

 

He said that after the bifurcation of AP, the newly elected TD government had proposed to establish the airport at Bhogapuram and issued a GO. The petitioner told the court that the airport would displace small and middle class farmers.