2 senior officers get jail for contempt of court

HYDERABAD: Justice P V Sanjay Kumar of AP High court on Tuesday sentenced two senior officers to 15 days imprisonment and imposed a fine of `3,000 while dealing with a contempt case against them. The officers are principal secretary for Finance Ranjeev Acharya and director of Mines department Sushil Kumar.The judge was dealing with contempt case filed by Sode Ramulu of Khammam who had bid over `1 crore in a sand auction at Khammam. A communication requiring petitioner to execute a lease deed within 7 days had been sent to petitioner after expiry of seven-day period.In the writ petition, High Court directed that 7-day period be condoned and lease deed be executed. The delay was not condoned until petitioner moved the court with contempt case. The assistant director condoned the delay but the secretary and director voiced no apology. Lack of remorse was the reason for punishment. The judge suspended order for a month. Petitioners would be entitled to file a statutory appeal under Contempt of Courts Act. Stay Extended in Another BP Acharya CaseJustice Raja Elango of the AP High Court on Tuesday extended the stay granted earlier in favour of the accused in the criminal case against bureaucrats BP Acharya, Gopi Krishna and others and also Neil Raheja in yet another case of abuse of official power.Practising advocate Sriranga Rao had filed a private complaint. The Special Court for Economic Offences directed investigation on the allegations of cheating and other offences under the IPC as also offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. It is the case of the complainant that the officials conspired with the private management of Raheja and got reduced the share of the government from 11 per cent to 0.006 per cent. About four months ago the high court had stayed the prosecution and investigation into the crime. The matter though listed could not be heard.