Kerala HC drops contempt proceedings against senior IAS officer

Kochi, Oct 23 (UNI) The Kerala high court today dropped the contempt of court proceedings against senior IAS officer and former chief of the state government's Special Task Force on Munnar Suresh Kumar and nine others in view of an unconditional apology tendered by them.

However, Justice S Sirijagan directed Mr Suresh Kumar to pay Rs 7,500 as legal costs to the petitioners, P Dhanya and Sreekumari Kavu, who had filed the contempt of court petition against him and the others for demolishing a part of their Dhanyasree Yatri Niwas in Munnar in July this year despite a stay order on the demolition.

The court also directed the nine others, including the Devikulam sub-collector, tahsildar and the village officer, to pay Rs 2,000 each to the petitioners.

The court closed the contempt case against Mr Suresh Kumar and others after accepting the additional affidavit filed by the senior IAS officer, expressing sincere regrets for the ''error'' committed by him in demolishing the resort.

While accepting the apology, the court observed that although he had tendered an unconditional apology, he had not admitted contempt of this court. Instead, he had justified his action in the affidavit.

UNI