By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court has partially stayed a Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling holding two Haryana officers guilty of willful disobedience of its order and asking them why they should not be punished.
The officers hauled up for contempt of court were Indian Administrative Service officer and Special Secretary, Department of Town and Country Planning and Urban Estate, T.C. Gupta and Director, District Town Planner (HQ), P.P. Singh.
The high court Jan 31 asked them as to why punishment should not be imposed on them under the Contempt of Court Act.
An apex court bench of Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice B.S. Chauhan stayed the high court notice Friday after Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told the court that the said officers had furnished full information sought by the court.
The high court Jan 17 sought information from the state government as to in how many cases lands of the landlords, who had not filed objections under the Land Acquisition Act was released through the mechanism of collaboration agreement.
The high court while taking cognizance of an attempt to “mislead” it (by the officers) said that “the apology would have been accepted if it was unconditional. By filing this affidavit, further attempt has been made to mislead the court”.
The court observed: “The query raised by the court was very simple and straight…the plea that the deponent (officer) failed to understand the question posed by the court appears to be false.”
“…We are satisfied that a willful disobedience to the orders passed by this court has been committed,” the high court said.
The case relates to the acquisition of land of villagers for development of residential and commercial complex in Sector 8-19 of Sonepat. The issue also involves real estate companies.