For some, contempt of court acceptable

Hyderabad: The lethargic response from government officers in carrying out the orders of the court has been irking judges of the Telangana High Court.

Judges say that it appears as if the officers have assurance from the Advocate General’s office and the state government that they will be protected if the court issues contempt orders and penalises them.

Whenever officers are punished in contempt cases, they immediately rush to file an appeal, and in most cases get a stay order. This is one reason why officers are not afraid of being slapped with contempt cases, a judge said in a private conversation.

Lawyers say that contempt of court proceedings are intended to ensure compliance of the orders of the court and adherence to the rule of law. Once the essentials for initiation of contempt proceedings are satisfied, the Court would initiate an action uninfluenced by the nature of the direction.

According to lawyers we spoke to, the maximum number of contempt cases has been filed against the revenue department, which includes the notorious land acquisition, followed by the home, municipal administration, service matters and registration issues.

Mr N. Sridhar Reddy, senior advocate of the High Court, said that people approach the High Court against government officials who fail to perform their statutory duties, such as not issuing pattadar passbooks for agricultural lands, not registering of FIRs in police stations, rejection of documents by registration authorities and failing to take action against illegal constructions.

He said even after the court issues directions to rectify the matter, in most cases the officials are reluctant to implement the court’s orders, which leads to the burgeoning number of contempt cases against the officers concerned.

Judges are worried at this deliberate flouting of the orders of the court and are exercising their powers to punish the contemnors by issuing notices to them to respond to cases filed, citing wilful disobedience of the court’s orders, and issuing form -1 notice to appear before the court in person.

Recently,  some judges of the Telangana  High Court found fault with government pleaders and the advocate-general’s office for defending government officials who were not bothered to even file an affidavit in the contempt petitions filed against them.