AMARAVATI: For the first time ever a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday sentenced eight senior IAS officers to two weeks imprisonment, and a Rs 1,000 fine, holding them guilty of contempt of court. However, he remitted the punishment following an unconditional apology tendered by them and made them undertake social work.

The Panchayati Raj Secretary at that point in time was Gopalakrishna Dwivedi, Commissioner Girijashankar, then Chief Secretary of the School Education Department B. Rajasekhar, then Commissioner Chinna Veerabhadra, Chief Secretary of the Municipal Department J. Shyamala Rao, current Special Chief Secretary of the Department Y Srilakshmi, G. Vijay Kumar and current director MM Nayak were named as respondents. Following an unconditional apology tendered by them, Justice Battu Devanand in his order stated that the IAS officers should visit welfare hostels on any Sunday in a month, for 12 months, and spend some time with the students, motivate them and also arrange sumptuous lunch or dinner by spending their personal money. The contemnors gave an oral undertaking (to do social work) and it is placed on record. The apology tendered by the contemnors is accepted and the punishment is remitted. If any contemnor failed to fulfill the undertaking, the Registry shall reopen the contempt case and place it before the Court, Justice Devanand said.

Each IAS officer has been assigned a district for taking up social work as part of the punishment. They should also submit a report along with photographs of the social work activities undertaken by them and submit it to the court.

Based on a writ petition, the AP High Court in June 2020 issued an interim order directing the authorities concerned not to take up any construction activity in 1371 schools, the Village Secretariats, and other constructions/activities which are not related to education and the school. When the case came up for hearing in July 2021, the court observed that barring two, the other respondents in the case did not file counter-affidavits even after a lapse of one year. The courts came to an opinion that the respondents willfully violated the (June 2020) order and on their own initiated contempt proceedings and were liable for punishment under the provisions of the Contempt Court Act, 1971. (With inputs from PTI and Sakhi.com)

IAS OFFICER NAME	DISTRICT ALLOTTED
Gopalakrishna Dwivedi	Krishna District
M Girija Shankar	Prakasam
B Rajasekhar	Srikakulam
Chinna Veerabhadrudu	Vizianagaram
J Syamala Rao	Anantapur
Y Srilakshmi	West Godavari
G Vijaya Kumar	Kurnool
MM Nayak	Nellore