The Telangana High Court has directed the Collectors of Siddipet and Siricilla districts to appear before it on July 22 in a contempt of court petition.
Justice Challa Kodanda Ram passed the order for the personal appearance of the Collectors – Venkatrami Reddy and Krishna Bhaskar – after hearing a contempt of court plea filed by K. Ravinder and others, who alleged that the officials attempted to dispossess of their properties despite a High Court order against such action.
Earlier, the petitioners approached the HC that the officials were trying to evacuate them from their land at Lingareddipalli village in Siddipet district despite the stay orders of the HC.
Forced evacuation
Their counsel V.V.N. Narayana Rao told the court that the authorities attempted to evacuate them from four acres of land claiming that it was an assigned land.
In 2015, the HC gave interim orders directing the authorities not to dispossess the petitioners of their properties.
The counsel said the officials pressurised the land owners to give up one acre of land for the construction of camp office of the local MLA.
According to the lawyer, his clients consented to give up the land if the authorities paid the compensation. But the authorities went ahead with surveying the land and had cut down the mango trees in violation of the HC orders.
Along with the two District Collectors, three other revenue officials were also directed to appear before the HC on July 22.
Form-one notices were also issued to all the five officers in the case.