HC pulls up defiant Prakasam collector

HYDERABAD: A two-judge bench of the AP High Court comprising Justice VVS Rao and Justice KG Shanker took strong objection to the approach of the state bureaucracy to judicial orders of the state administrative tribunal .
The bench directed chief secretary S V Prasad to issue directions to his officials to ensure strict compliance of the orders in future.The bench was particularly surprised over the approach of Prakasam district collector who asked a suspended tehsildar to get the consent of the local minister for his reinstatement even though the tribunal had directed his reinstatement.
The bench was hearing the plea of Venkateshwarlu, a tehsildar from Kotapatnma. He was suspended for giving information under the Right to Information Act to a neighbouring village sarpanch. The petitioner then moved the tribunal questioning the order of suspension. The tribunal ordered his reinstatement but the collector failed to comply with it. Instead, he directed the petitioner to obtain permission and no objection from the local minister. He complained that the fight between the local minster and the sarpanch on the housing of a dump yard had made him a needless victim.