New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Andhra Pradesh government to demote a deputy collector to tehsildar for disobeying a high court order and forcibly removing hutments in Guntur district in January 2014.
Taking a firm stance on the officer’s disobedience, a bench of Justices B. R. Gavai and Augustine George Masih stated that every authority, regardless of rank, must respect and comply with court orders.
"A disobedience of the orders passed by the court attacks the very foundation of the rule of law on which our democracy is based," the bench said.
"Though we take a lenient view, a message is required to be given to everybody that no one, howsoever high he may be, is above the law," it said.
The apex court confirmed the high court order which convicted him for "deliberate and utter disobedience" of its order.
The top court, however, modified the high court order sentencing the officer to imprisonment for two months.
"We further modify the sentence, and the petitioner is sentenced to reduction of one level in the hierarchy of his service," the bench said.
It noted that the officer was promoted to the post of deputy collector in 2023.
The bench directed the Andhra Pradesh government to demote the petitioner to the post of tehsildar. It also directed the officer to pay a fine of Rs one lakh.
"We want the message to go throughout the country that nobody would tolerate disobedience of the court's order," Justice Gavai observed.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by the officer against an order of the high court's division bench which rejected his appeals against contempt action.
The high court division bench refused to interfere with a single judge's order sentencing him to two months imprisonment for "deliberate and utter disobedience" of its order.
The single judge's order was based on pleas alleging that the officer, then a tehsildar, forcibly removed hutments in Guntur district in January 2014, despite a December 11, 2013, directive restraining him.
Earlier, the apex court had asked whether the officer was willing to accept demotion as punishment for disobeying the high court order.
During Friday's hearing, the officer’s counsel stated, "He (the officer) will go down to any punishment."
(inputs from PTI)