Hyderabad : The Telangana high court has initiated contempt proceedings against senior state officials, including chief secretary Sanjay Jaju, over allegations of wilful disobedience of its earlier order relating to elections to fishermen’s cooperative societies.
The court directed these officials to explain why contempt action should not be initiated against them and posted the matter to Nov 20 for further hearing.
The court cautioned that if the officials failed to respond, the matter would be “heard and determined ex-parte”. Hearing the contempt petition, Justice Surepalli Nanda recently issued notices to Sanjay Jaju, principal secretary (agriculture and cooperation) Surendra Mohan, principal secretary (animal husbandry, dairy development and fisheries) Illambarithi K, fisheries commissioner and MD of Telangana State Fishermen Cooperative Societies Federation Nikhila, and Chandra Mohan Reddy of the state election authority’s cooperative wing. The petitioner urged the court to summon the officials and proceed against them for alleged non-compliance with its directions.