The Kerala High Court has served contempt notices to five senior IAS officers, including Chief Secretary A Jayathilak, for alleged violation of its order given last year concerning the Agricultural Promotion Fund.
A bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice V M Syam Kumar issued notices to the officers after framing contempt charges. The contempt petition was filed by T N Mukundan, who alleged that the officers had failed to comply with HC’s order dated Nov 28, 2024.
In its order last year, the HC had asked the state govt to deposit Rs 1,510 crore, collected as land regularisation charges from landowners, into the Agricultural Promotion Fund. The petitioner has alleged that although crores of rupees were being collected, not even 3% had been transferred to the Agricultural Promotion Fund.
The court got annoyed at the way its order was ignored, as no review petition was filed within the permissible time and no application seeking extension of time for compliance was submitted. The HC admitted the contempt petition and issued notices to the officers, observing that the respondents were prima facie in contempt of its order.
Besides CS Jayathilak, other senior IAS officers who have been issued notices include Arvind Srivastava, the then revenue secretary; Keshvendra Kumar, the then finance secretary; Tinku Biswal, the then agricultural production commissioner; and Arjun Pandian, the then land revenue commissioner.
The matter will come up for hearing on Jan 5 next year.
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