Andhra High Court convicts 4 Serving IAS, 1 Retired for Jail terms

In what seems to be a major development,  Andhra Pradesh High Court recently announced imprisonment for four serving IAS officers, and one retired, holding them guilty of contempt for "wilful disobedience" of the court order of February 10, 2017.

Three other IAS officers, including Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das, were let off in the case as the charge against them has been dismissed.

The convicted IAS officers include Principal Secretary, Finance Department Shamsher Singh Rawat, Additional Secretary, Chief Minister  Revu Mutyala Raju, SPS Nellore district Collector , KVN Chakradhara Babu, and former Collector M V Seshagiri Babu.

Mutyala Raju had also previously served as Collector of SPS Nellore district. Retired IAS officer Manmohan Singh, who was the then Principal Secretary (Revenue) in 2017, has also been convicted in the case.

Justice Battu Devanand pronounced the order on a contempt petition filed an agriculturist Tallapaka Savitramma of SPS Nellore district.

Mr Rawat and Singh have been sentenced to one-month imprisonment while others have been sentenced to two weeks imprisonment. A fine of ₹ 1,000 has also been imposed on each of them.

Justice Devanand, however, ordered the suspension of the sentence for a month to enable the convicted to go for an appeal, according to the petitioner's lawyer C Vani Reddy.

Tallapaka Savitramma filed a writ petition in the High Court in 2017 stating that her land measuring three acres was resumed by the revenue authorities and allotted to the National Institute of Mental Health without any notice or payment of compensation.

In December 2016, the revenue authorities promised to pay compensation to her for the land and that was also reported to the Lokayukta, she said.