Telangana HC asks Nalgonda collector to do service in lieu of punishment

HYDERABAD:  Continuing to put officials who show disrespect in their place, the Telangana High Court on Wednesday asked Nalgonda collector Prashant. J. Patil to do social service in lieu of the punishment imposed for contempt of court.

Patil had violated court orders when he was joint collector of Warangal and had been ordered to pay costs.

A division bench of Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy was dealing with an appeal filed by Patil, who sought the division bench to suspend the operation of imposing costs of Rs

2,000 against him. The costs had been imposed on grounds of willful disobedience of court orders issued in 2016.

Sanjeev Kumar, special counsel, informed the division bench that the court directions had been complied with, and sought suspension of the orders that were issued against Patil.

To this, the bench said officials in higher authority, who are well aware of the Constitution, must respect court orders instead of filing appeals after they have been punished.

The bench said that it was suspending the costs imposed on Patil, but he should do voluntary social service. The bench directed counsel to inform it by April 7 the service that the Collector would do.

A single judge had imposed costs on Patil for failing to implement a direction to allocate paddy to Parameshwari Rice Mill in Warangal district’s Parvathagiri village for custom milling. The mill was prohibited for providing custom milling of rice as it had violated rules and regulations of Essential Commodities Act 2015 by storing more rice than permitted.