Madras high court declines to quash contempt charges against two senior IAS officers–Justice P N Prakash and Justice V Sivagnanam permitted the single judge to proceed further with the contempt proceedings.

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Madras high court declines to quash contempt charges against two senior IAS officers
Sureshkumar | TNN | Mar 16, 2021, 20:55 IST
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Madras high court
CHENNAI: The Madras high court has refused to quash contempt charges framed against two senior IAS officers for leasing out 24.6 acre of waterbody to a private cement manufacturer against a court order.
Dismissing the appeals moved by principal secretary to revenue department Atulya Misra and agricultural production commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi, a division bench of Justice P N Prakash and Justice V Sivagnanam permitted the single judge to proceed further with the contempt proceedings.
Also, to record its anguish, the bench said, “…by passing a GO dated November 8, 2019 and handing over prime water bodies to a private entrepreneur for exploitation…it is tantamount to saying, we are the zamindars of India and we can lease out the Himalayas and the Western Ghats.”
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The issue pertains to an order passed by the sub-collector of Ariyalur dated February 10, 2015 directing Chettinad Cement to vacate government land in their possession.
Aggrieved, Chettinad moved the high court challenging the order. Through an order dated August 13, 2018 a single judge of the court dismissed the plea and directed the authorities to evict Chettainad from the encroachment.
The cement manufacturer moved an appeal against the order. On January 25, 2019 a division bench of the court dismissed the same making it clear that there cannot be any construction on water bodies.
The company went on an appeal before the Supreme Court which was dismissed on February 25, 2019.
Meanwhile, a group of residents of Ariyalur filed a contempt petition alleging that the district administration had not taken any action to remove the encroachments as directed by the court.

During the pendency of the petition, the state passed a GO dated November 8, 2019 leasing out 24.6 acres of the waterbody to the company for 30 years. When this was brought to the knowledge of the court, the court through an order dated January 31, 2020 framed contempt charges against the two IAS officers.
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