The Telangana High Court on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and issued summons to him to appear on January 24 for disregarding its directions. A bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice N Tukaramji, dealing with a batch of writ petitions related to a 2016 case since he was also the principal secretary of the Revenue Department. The bench also directed the Chief Secretary to remit the fine amount to the Prime Minister’s Covid Relief Fund.

The petitioners' grievance was that their lands were acquired by the State government in 2016 under GO Ms. No 123 and 214 issued by the Revenue Department, dated July 30, 2015, and November 28, 2015, respectively. The government acquired the lands from farmers of Gudatipally and the surrounding villages in Husnabad mandal of the erstwhile Karimnagar district to raise the storage capacity of Gouravelli Reservoir from 1.44 tmc to nine tmc.

The farmers said that they were threatened and forced to give up their land for the projects and further stated that the authorities had taken their signatures in the agreements, by using the police force. The state government had violated the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013, which was enacted by Parliament to safeguard the rights of landowners.

The government and the revenue department didn't give a reply to their contentions against the charges upon them even after six years of filing petitions. Despite numerous opportunities given by the court, they failed to file counters.

The division bench gave final chance to the government to file counters and directed the principal secretary of revenue to file the counter by December 22, else he shall be present before the court. But, on Wednesday, Somesh Kumar had neither filed the counter nor appeared before the court. Radhive Reddy, government counsel, requested some more time. So, HC imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 on Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar for negligence.