High Court finds three top Punjab Officers guilty of contempt of court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has declared three top officers in Punjab, including two IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officers and one IFS (Indian Forest Service) officer, guilty of contempt of court. These officers have been identified as Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Financial Commissioner (Forest Department) Vikas Garg, Principal Secretary (Local Government) Ajoy Sharma, and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Raman Kant Mishra. The court has given them until October 20 to rectify their contemptuous actions.

Contempt of Court allegations

This ruling comes in response to a contempt of court plea filed by the Bari Karoran Gram Panchayat in Mohali on May 18, 2023. The plea accused these officers of violating court orders and causing continuous issues. Whenever the panchayat sought to undertake development work or obtain services like water and electricity connections, the concerned departments and officials would reject their requests, stating that the description of a 1,092-acre land, which had been excluded from the forest area, was not provided. This exclusion was to be officially documented through a corrigendum, but it hadn't been issued.

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Long-standing issue

In 2014, the high court had ruled in favor of the villagers, allowing for the de-notification of the land previously designated under the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900, and declaring it as non-forest land. The Supreme Court upheld this ruling, but the official notification was never issued, leading to ongoing problems for the villagers.

The high court noted that despite nine years having passed since the 2014 judgment and seven years since the contempt petitions were disposed of with assurance from the state, the orders have not been complied with. The conduct of the respondents was described as willful disobedience, reflecting an adamant attitude. It was also observed that these officers were passing the burden between themselves rather than adhering to the court's directions, causing significant hardship to many citizens.

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