Judge sends DEO to jail in contempt of court case

ONGOLE: In a contempt of court case filed in the AP High Court, Judge Battu Devanand awarded District Education Officer (DEO) VS Subba Rao two-weeks simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1,000. In case the DEO dolesn’t pay the fine, the Judge ruled that he has to undergo imprisonment for a four more days. On the request of the DEO’s counsel, the Judge suspended the sentence of imprisonment for a period of one week from Tuesday. 

The petitioner of the case is a second grade teacher, who retired from service on June 30, 2018. At the time of his retirement, the respondents haven’t sanctioned the petitioner’s earned leave and half pay leave, though there was an accumulation of the said leaves on his record. Despite being entitled to encash the earned leave, the respondents even after the HC order on August 28, 2019 did not implement the same for a period of 14 months. “Because of the carelessness of the respondents, the petitioner and his family members suffered a lot,” the Judge opined. When TNIE tried to contact the DEO through telephone, he was not available.