Lanka Venkata Sambasiva Rao v. Dr. Budha Prakash M. Jyothi I.A.S.

HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C. PRAVEEN KUMAR CONTEMPT CASE No. 2204 of 2013 ORDER:

The present Contempt Case came to be filed to punish the respondent for violation of the order dated 12.09.2012 passed in W.P.No.19875 of 2012.

A writ petition came to be filed declaring the inaction of the respondents in not conducting any enquiry on the complaint dated 11.02.2012 submitted by the petitioner with regard to misappropriation of compensation amount that was released by the State Government towards compensation that was payable to the eligible farmers of Veeravalli Village, Bapulapadu Mandal, Krishna District, who had sustained crop loss due to heavy rain and floods that occurred during the months of October, November and December, 2010 as illegal and arbitrary.

By an order, dated 12.09.2012, this Court directed the first respondent therein "to cause necessary verification as to the truth or otherwise of the allegation made by the petitioner within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order. If it emerges that any irregularities are taken place, he shall initiate further steps."

It is stated that even after lapse of six months from the date of order, the respondent did not comply with the orders of this Court. The petitioner also issued a notice dated 30.07.2013 to the respondent to comply with the orders of this Court within 15 days from the date of receipt of the said notice. It is said that though the respondent received the said notice on 01.08.2013, but

he did not comply with the orders of this Court till date. Hence, the petitioner approached this Court by filing this contempt case. A counter came to be filed by the respondent stating that subsequent to the orders passed by this Court, the Revenue Divisional Officer, Nuzvid was directed to depute a team of officers comprising of Revenue and Agricultural Department for verifying the entire beneficiaries list of input subsidy of Veeravalli Village to know how much amount was claimed and distributed to the ineligible persons and misappropriated in input subsidy by Sri D.Venkateswara Rao, Former Village Revenue Officer, Veeravalli. The Revenue Divisional Officer, Nuzvid submitted a detailed report, basing on which, the articles of charges were framed against the said V.R.O., who is presently working as V.R.O. in Mandavalli Mandal.

As his explanation was not convincing, the Revenue Divisional Officer, Nuzvid was appointed as an Enquiry Officer to enquire into the charges. The Tahsildar was also directed to recover the excess amount paid irregularly as input subsidy from the concerned individuals. The counter filed by the respondent show that the report of the Enquiry Officer is awaited. In view of the above, it cannot be said that there is any violation of the orders passed by this Court, since the request of the petitioner in the writ petition was to direct the respondents to conduct detailed enquiry on the complaint dated 11.02.2012. Since the enquiry has been ordered and the Tahsildar was also directed to recover the amount from the individuals who have been irregularly paid the input subsidy and the enquiry report is not submitted till date, it cannot be said that there is any contempt on the part of the respondent. Accordingly, the Contempt Case is dismissed. No order as

to costs.

Consequently, miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in this Contempt Case shall stand closed.

_________________________ JUSTICE C. PRAVEEN KUMAR 30.11.2015 gkv