HC slaps Rs 1L fine for false info

C Pradeep kumar
Vijayawada

In a big setback to the farmers who took recourse to legal remedy over road-widening at Ippatam village in Guntur district, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on each of the 14 petitioners for misleading the court with false information.

The High Court issued a stay order 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 on Thursday for giving false information.The villagers attended the court and 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.

It may be recalled that the demolition of illegal constructions by the Mangalagiri Municipality officials in Ippatam village has become a big political issue with Jana Sena Party (JSP) led by Pawan Kalyan and the  the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), raising a hue and cry over the issue.

Pawan Kalyan travelled to the village on the top of his SUV from Mangalagiri. He alleged that the houses were demolished only because they attended his public meeting in large numbers.

The Jana Sena chief is also getting ready to distribute Rs 1 lakh each to them in a couple of days. Prompted by his support, the villagers moved the High Court and obtained the stay orders on further demolitions, claiming that the municipal authorities were demolishing their houses for road widening without giving them prior notice.

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 informed about the issuance of notices by the municipality well in advance. When the lawyer admitted that the petitioners were indeed given notices, the High Court questioned why it cannot take action for the contempt of the court for suppressing the facts and obtaining interim orders.

In accordance with court orders, all 14 petitioners attended the hearing on Thursday.The court found the farmers to be at fault and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each.

Speaking to The Pioneer, counsel for Ippatam farmers, K Chidambaram, said that despite the authorities serving ‘show cause notice’ and ‘notice to demolish the encroached structure’ the farmers were ignorant of the same and could not inform the court of the same before filing the case. He said, “I was speechless when the authorities showed all evidence that notices were served on the farmers in April and again in June to demolish the encroached structures After receiving the order, the farmers would approach the division bench seeking the waiver of the fine or reduction in the fine amount considering the ignorance of the illiterate farmers.”

Tirumalasetty Narasimha Rao, a farmer who appeared before the court, said, “Due to lack of knowledge we could not furnish all the documents received from the authorities which resulted in vacating the stay order and imposition of fine. We will approach the court with complete documents and file an appeal as per the directions of our counsel,” he added.