Telangana HC criticises government counsel for backing babu in contempt case

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday sharply criticised the attitude of counsels representing Telangana state in defending officers who were found guilty in contempt cases and had been punished for their disobedience of court orders.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy questioned additional advocate general J. Ramachandra Rao as to how he certified the conduct of an officer as ‘very good’, even when he (the officer) had not implemented court orders for several months.

The bench was dealing with a contempt appeal filed by Syyed Yasin Qureshi, excise deputy commissioner, urging it to set aside the punishment imposed on him by the single judge bench of the Telangana High Court, in a contempt case for willful disobedience of court orders.

The single judge had ordered the deputy commissioner to release a seized vehicle that was carrying jaggery. As the packs in the vehicle were perishable and there was no ban on transportation of jaggery, the judge had directed authorities to release the vehicle on condition that the official take an undertaking from the vehicle owner.

Even three months after the direction was issued by the court, the officer did not release the vehicle. Rather, he put forward more conditions to the petitioner to release the vehicle. After the contempt case was filed, the officer released the vehicle, but without taking a proper undertaking.

When a fine of Rs 1,000 was imposed on the official for contempt of court, the officer filed an appeal to set this aside.

On Thursday, the additional advocate general argued that the officer was honest and he was law-abiding. Then, the bench asked him, “When the violations are clearly visible, how counsels for the government choose to defend errant officers?”