Hyderabad: Three registration department officials, including a sub-registrar, and the owner of a private infrastructure firm were sentenced to six-month simple imprisonment in a contempt case for wilfully disobeying Telangana high court’s order in a land dispute relating to 10 acres at Bachupally.
The contempt petition was filed by Chalasani Kalyani Leela, who alleged that the respondents violated high court’s Feb 2, 2023 interim order staying a single judge’s direction concerning the land parcel.
She argued this amounted to deliberate defiance of the court’s order, which prevented any registrations on the said land. The petitioner claimed that despite knowledge of the stay, ADR Estates continued presenting documents relating to the Bachupally land for registration, and the registration officials accepted them. Rejecting these arguments, the court found that the respondents had knowledge of the interim order but continued with registrations, making their conduct wilful and deliberate. The court, however, suspended the prison sentence for four weeks, allowing the respondents to appeal the punishment.