After officials from the Maharashtra government offered an unconditional apology, the Bombay High Court decided to discontinue the contempt proceedings against them. The apology extended to IAS officer Aseem Gupta, presently serving as the Principal Secretary of the Urban Development Department.
The court had previously sentenced them to one month of imprisonment in a civil prison, citing their repeated failure to adhere to court orders. The officials had disregarded a court order to appear in a case, which led to the court's stern response.
A bench consisting of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain, who had previously expressed their disappointment with the officials' "disregard for the rule of law and the Constitution," presided over the contempt petition.
The apology was connected to a plea filed by Ajay Narhe and several other farmers, whose lands had been acquired for the Chaskman and Bhama-Aaskhed irrigation project in Pune in 1971.
During the hearing of their writ petitions on March 2, 2022, the state government had promised to acquire the land within six months. However, advocate Nitin Deshpande, representing the petitioners, pointed out that this had not been done, resulting in significant hardship for the impoverished farmers.
Subsequently, the farmers initiated contempt proceedings against the officials, prompting the court to issue a show-cause notice in June 2023. Nevertheless, the government officials failed to submit any response.
During the recent hearing, Advocate General Birendra Saraf presented Gupta's affidavit, which offered an "unconditional and sincere apology." Saraf acknowledged that he was not seeking to justify the actions but emphasized that the official had complied with the previous high court order. He also noted that affidavits had been filed by the official, but they had not been submitted to the high court department.
While discontinuing the contempt proceedings, the bench underscored that such conduct by high-ranking officials was not acceptable because it could convey the message that court orders were not binding.
The court also pointed out that the failure to comply with land acquisition notifications had led to a significant increase in litigation cases.
To address such matters, the bench suggested that the government should consider establishing a specialized cell.
"We would request the government to have a special cell. You can’t have the Collector going around doing everything. Many of them (villagers) are waiting for justice. They are coming to us,” Justice Kulkarni remarked.
The contempt proceedings involved five officials, including Aseem Gupta, Additional Collector Vijaysinh Deshmukh, Deputy Collector Rehabilitation Uttam Patil, Talahati Shirur Sachin Kale, and Land Acquisition official Praveen Salunkhe.
