Madras High Court holds former Coimbatore Collector, DRO and RDO guilty of contempt
The Madras High Court has found former Coimbatore Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati (now serving as Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation Managing Director), District Revenue Officer M. Sharmila and Revenue Divisional Officer P.K. Govindan guilty of contempt of court and directed them to pay ₹10,000 each from their salaries to the contempt petitioner.
Justice P. Velmurugan also held Coimbatore North Tahsildar Manivel guilty of contempt and sentenced him to undergo one month simple imprisonment besides paying an amount equivalent to his monthly salary as compensation to the petitioner. The sentence was, however, suspended for the limitation period of 30 days when an appeal could be filed.
The judge purged Village Administrative Officer Yamuna alone from the contempt proceedings initiated by 74-year-old senior citizen John Chandy in 2024 for having not complied with the orders passed by the court on November 8, 2023 to consider the petitioner's plea to remove illegal entries from the 'patta' related to his immovable property located at Chinnavedampatti village.
In his counter affidavit to the contempt plea, Mr. Pati told the court that he got transferred from the post of Coimbatore Collector in February 2025 and that he tenders unconditional apology to the court for not having complied with the order passed by the court in 2023 to conduct an inquiry with respect to the petitioner's plea and dispose it of within two months.
However, observing that the counter affidavit was not satisfactory, the judge held that Mr. Pati, Ms. Sharmila and Mr. Govindan, being superior officers, had failed to ensure that tahsildar Manivel complied with the court orders within the stipulated time. 'It is clear that the respondents one to four have deliberately disobeyed the order under contempt. They cannot be absolved,' the judge concluded.
Three more Tahsildars sentenced
Allowing yet another contempt of court petition filed by P. Shankar in 2024, Justice Velmurugan found Chengalpattu Tahsildar Venkataraman guilty of having wilfully not obeyed an order passed by the court on February 28, 2024 to consider the petitioner's request for grant of patta. The judge sentenced the Tahsildar for one month of simple imprisonment.
Further, the Tahsildar was directed to pay a compensation of ₹25,000 from his salary to the petitioner failing which he would have undergo 10 more days of simple imprisonment. The judge, however, suspended the sentence for the limitation period of 30 days provided under the Contempt of Courts Act for filing an appeal against the conviction before a Division Bench of the High Court.
Further, dealing with a third contempt plea filed by G. Murugathal, the judge sentenced Coimbatore Special Tahsildar (Land Acquisition) Shri Malathi, Madukkarai Tahsildar A. Sathyan and Vellalur Village Administrative Officer to one month of simple imprisonment and directed them too to pay a compensation of ₹25,000 each to the petitioner, or in default, undergo 10 more days of imprisonment.
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