Supreme Court stays jail term of Telangana NTPC chairman in contempt case

The Supreme Court on Friday, January 6, stayed the Telangana High Court order awarding two-month jail term to the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) chairperson in a contempt case. A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the NTPC chief, that the High Court order needed to be stayed.

Earlier during the day, the top court had agreed to hear the appeal of Gurdeep Singh, the NTPC Chairman and Managing Director. "This is the case in which the NTPC chairperson has been awarded two months' jail term in a contempt case relating to appointments of some non-executive employees," the law officer had submitted.

The bench agreed to hear the case and asked the law officer to provide three copies of the petitions for the judges. On December 31, the Telangana High Court sentenced Singh in a contempt case. A division bench of Justices Shameem Akther and N Tukaram passed the verdict and ordered Gurdeep and his Secunderabad-based HR general manager Manikanth to be jailed. The court had earlier ordered compensation to those who lost their land to the NTPC unit in Ramagundam 42 years ago.

The high court, however, had suspended the judgment for six weeks to allow the contemnor to move a superior court to avail legal remedy to mitigate the sentence.