Andhra High Court sentences TTD EO to one month jail, imposes Rs 2,000 fine

VIJAYAWADA: The High Court of Andhra Pradesh sentenced Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) executive officer AV Dharma Reddy to one month imprisonment and imposed a penalty of Rs 2,000 on him for failing to implement its orders.

The court asked the EO to surrender before the high court (registrar) before December 27 and passed orders to the registrar to send the official to judicial remand after he surrenders. The court also ordered one month simple imprisonment to Dharma Reddy in case he fails to pay the fine.

The HC, however, said the EO can appeal against its order before December 27. The matter pertains to a notification issued by the TTD in January 2011 to fill posts of programme assistants in TTD Dharma Prachara Parishad. Three persons, Kommu Babu, Ramavat Swamy Naik and Bukya Sevla Nayak, who were working with the Trust filed a petition challenging the notification and sought court’s intervention for regularising their services.

On April 13, 2022, the court struck down the notification and directed the TTD to regularise services of the petitioners as they had been working in the organisation for more than a decade.
TTD officials appealed against the judgement before a division bench.

We appealed against  single judge order: TTD

Meanwhile, on June 16, the petitioners filed a contempt petition before a single judge bench against the TTD’s failure to implement court orders and made Trust chairman YV Subba Reddy, Executive Officer AV Dharma Reddy, Special DEO Govindarajulu, Dharma Prachara Parishad secretary L Vijaya Saradhi as respondents.

When the matter came for hearing on Tuesday, the TTD informed the court that they could not implement the judgement as they had appealed against the orders of the single judge bench to regularise the services of petitioners.

Justice K Manmadha Rao observed that the TTD officials took six months to implement its orders and said the division bench had not issued any stay order on the single judge bench order.Justice Rao said though the orders had to be implemented in two months, TTD officials did not do so intentionally. He added that the TTD officials could have sought time to implement the orders, but did not and wasted six months.

Holding the EO responsible for contempt of its orders, Justice Rao sentenced Dharma Reddy to one month imprisonment and imposed Rs 2,000 penalty on him. Meanwhile, the TTD moved a lunch motion petition before the division bench of Justices A Venkata Seshasai and D Venkataramana on Tuesday, seeking urgent hearing of its plea challenging the single judge orders to regularise the services of the three petitioners.

The division bench had issued a stay on the orders of the single judge bench on regularisation of services.
Meanwhile, another appeal was filed before the division bench against the orders of the single judge bench sentencing Dharma Reddy to one month imprisonment. The appeal will be heard on Wednesday.

VIJAYAWADA: The High Court of Andhra Pradesh sentenced Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) executive officer AV Dharma Reddy to one month imprisonment and imposed a penalty of Rs 2,000 on him for failing to implement its orders. The court asked the EO to surrender before the high court (registrar) before December 27 and passed orders to the registrar to send the official to judicial remand after he surrenders. The court also ordered one month simple imprisonment to Dharma Reddy in case he fails to pay the fine. The HC, however, said the EO can appeal against its order before December 27. The matter pertains to a notification issued by the TTD in January 2011 to fill posts of programme assistants in TTD Dharma Prachara Parishad. Three persons, Kommu Babu, Ramavat Swamy Naik and Bukya Sevla Nayak, who were working with the Trust filed a petition challenging the notification and sought court’s intervention for regularising their services. On April 13, 2022, the court struck down the notification and directed the TTD to regularise services of the petitioners as they had been working in the organisation for more than a decade. TTD officials appealed against the judgement before a division bench. We appealed against  single judge order: TTD Meanwhile, on June 16, the petitioners filed a contempt petition before a single judge bench against the TTD’s failure to implement court orders and made Trust chairman YV Subba Reddy, Executive Officer AV Dharma Reddy, Special DEO Govindarajulu, Dharma Prachara Parishad secretary L Vijaya Saradhi as respondents. When the matter came for hearing on Tuesday, the TTD informed the court that they could not implement the judgement as they had appealed against the orders of the single judge bench to regularise the services of petitioners. Justice K Manmadha Rao observed that the TTD officials took six months to implement its orders and said the division bench had not issued any stay order on the single judge bench order.Justice Rao said though the orders had to be implemented in two months, TTD officials did not do so intentionally. He added that the TTD officials could have sought time to implement the orders, but did not and wasted six months. Holding the EO responsible for contempt of its orders, Justice Rao sentenced Dharma Reddy to one month imprisonment and imposed Rs 2,000 penalty on him. Meanwhile, the TTD moved a lunch motion petition before the division bench of Justices A Venkata Seshasai and D Venkataramana on Tuesday, seeking urgent hearing of its plea challenging the single judge orders to regularise the services of the three petitioners. The division bench had issued a stay on the orders of the single judge bench on regularisation of services. Meanwhile, another appeal was filed before the division bench against the orders of the single judge bench sentencing Dharma Reddy to one month imprisonment. The appeal will be heard on Wednesday.