Taking a serious note of the contempt of court, the Andhra Pradesh High Court issued directives that two senior officials should be sentenced to imprisonment till the court completes its proceedings for the day. Along with this, a fine of Rs 1,000 was also slapped by the court.
Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Commissioner M. Girija Sankar and Horticulture former Commissioner Chiranjeevi Chowdary were directed by the High Court to imprisonment till rising of the court
Earlier, the High Court issued directives that the two officials should be sent to the prison for nine days on the grounds of the provisions of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971 for a delay in implementing the court orders.
The officials have moved the Court requesting the court to consider their age and their service over the years and reduce the punishment. The High Court changed the verdict and detained them for the day in a court on Tuesday.
The High Court slapped nine days punishment for them after 36 horticulture job aspirants moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court claiming that the rules and regulations were changed in the middle of the job selection process.
Hearing the petition, the High Court directed that the petitioners should be given a chance in the job selection by amending the job notification. But the directives were not implemented by the officials. This forced the petitioners to move the court again.
Considering the pardon request of the officials, the High Court changed its decision after a single judge bench comprising Justice Battu Devanand directed that they should be detained for a day.
In the petition, the officials in the pardon request observed that their age and their service should be taken into consideration, and sending them to the prison in the wake of Covid-19 time is not advisable.