HC dismisses writ petition of Ippatam ryots

PNS|Vijayawada

In a big setback to the Ippatam farmers, the High Court on Wednesday dismissed the writ petition filed by the farmers to reduce the fine of Rs 1 lakh imposed by the court to 14 farmers. The court has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh to 14 farmers of Ippatam village for suppressing the facts and obtaining interim orders by misleading the court.

It can be recalled that the High Court had issued stay orders against the demolition of structures for road widening in Ippatam village against the petition filed by 14 farmers of the village. The counsel for the farmers told the court that no notices were given to the farmers during the hearing of the case. The council on behalf of the state government told the court during the hearing that they demolished the structures on the encroached government land only after serving notices.

In this context, the High Court has ordered all the 14 farmers to appear before the court for giving false information to the court. As a result, the villagers attended the court, when the court asked if notices were served to them, they said that they were ignorant of the notices they received. However, the High Court rejected their argument and issued a verdict imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each of them.

The High Court expressed anger at the petitioners for misleading the court and obtaining interim stay orders with false information. The court asked the lawyer of the petitioners why he had not been informed about the issuance of notices by the municipality well in advance. When the lawyer admitted that the petitioners were indeed given notices, the court questioned why it cannot take action for the contempt of the court for suppressing the facts and obtaining interim orders.

The court asked all the 14 petitioners to appear before it on November 24. All the farmers attended the court, which found the farmers at fault and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each.