Contempt of court: Hyderabad HC awards jail term to IAS officer for razing bldgs for Pushkarams

HYDERABAD: Coming down heavily on IAS officer G Veerapandian for showing no regard towards court orders and dispossessing poor people of their houses, during last year’s Krishna Pushkarams, Justice M S Ramachandra Rao of the Hyderabad High Court pronounced him guilty in a contempt of court case and sentenced him to two months jail on Thursday.
The officer was the municipal commissioner of Vijayawada during last year’s Krishna Pushkarams.The judge directed Veerapandian, now posted as district collector of Anantapur district, to pay ?1 lakh each to the two petitioners, as compensation apart from a penalty of ?2,000.
The judge directed AP authorities to enter into his service register details of his current misconduct in disobeying court orders. “The AP chief secretary should consider disciplinary action against Veerapandian,” the judge said.
The compensation given to petitioners, V Bharatamma and P Sivadurga Prakash, residents of Vijayawada’s Krishna Lanka, is for demolishing their residential structures and causing them mental trauma by dispossessing them of their houses, despite court orders against it.
While this contempt case was pending, the municipal corporation was trying to lay a road across the land where the building of the petitioners once stood. Justice Ramachandra Rao had asked the officers not to lay road, but the order was ignored.
The judge also found fault with Krishna Lanka police inspector P Chandra Sekhar and awarded him one month jail and ?2,000 penalty for abetting the crime against the poor. Justice Ramachandra Rao warned the Krishna district collector A Babu to be more careful in future and show respect towards the orders of the court.