HC’s 5th notice to IAS officer on contempt plea over transfer

Raipur: The Chhattisgarh High Court has issued yet another notice, the fifth within a month, to IAS officer Manoj Pingua, who holds the post of the chairman of the state government’s transfer committee in a contempt petition filed by differently-abled Duleram Kunjam.Justice B Vijaysen Reddy has directed the IAS officer to reply to the notice at the earliest. The 55-year-old petitioner, a resident of Sheetlamata Ward in Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh, had moved the court against a transfer order issued by the state government and urged for the court's intervention to cancel the transfer on the ground of his disability and age.While hearing the petition, the court referred the case to the transfer committee and asked to dispose of the case as per prescribed rules. However, the transfer committee did not comply with the high court order in the stipulated time period, prompting Kunjam to file a contempt petition.The counsels of petitioner Kunjam submitted to the court that there are provisions of penalty and punishment under Section 12 of the Contempt of Court Act 1971 for the contempt of court. They further submitted that the number of contempt cases is multiplying in the absence of strict action against those indulging in the same. The counsels also cited a contempt case involving Chhattisgarh school education secretary who was asked by the High Court to pay a penalty of Rs 20000 in Rakesh Mohan Pandey contempt case. The counsel urged the court for strong punishment for the IAS for the contempt of the court for the fifth time within a month. The court observed that the IAS has been issued four contempt notices in the case of Dr Vandana Bhele, Dr Rakesh Premi, Kunjeshwar Kaushal and Yogendra Kaushal in different cases, prior to the notice issued in Kunjam case. The first contempt notices issued by the court against the IAS was on March two followed by the second on March six, third on March 14, fourth on March 20 and fifth on March 27.