Jabalpur HC cracks down on retired officer’s plea:Bailable warrants issued against ACS, and two others

The Madhya Pradesh High Court, taking a strict stance on non-compliance with its order, issued bailable warrants of ₹25,000 each against Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Manish Rastogi, Principal Secretary of the Finance Department M. Selvendran, and Director of the Farmer Welfare and Agriculture Development Department Ajay Gupta. The court has instructed the officials to appear personally on 15 July and submit a compliance report of the previous order. The case was heard on Wednesday by the single bench of Justice Vishal Mishra. The court has instructed the Superintendents of Police of the concerned districts to execute the warrants. Retired officer had challenged The case is related to Devdutt Vishwakarma, former Deputy Director of the Agriculture Department, Jabalpur, who retired on 30 June, 2023. After his retirement, the department had recovered approximately Rs 2.10 lakh from him. According to the petitioner, he was granted the benefit of time-bound pay scale in the year 2006, but in the year 2021, the government canceled the order, stating that the authority to sanction time-bound pay scale was at the secretary level instead of the director level. Subsequently, an amount of approximately Rs 2.10 lakh was recovered by adding the principal amount and interest. HC ordered to return the amount Challenging the recovery, Devdutt Vishwakarma had filed a petition in the High Court. The court, while pronouncing its decision on 8 May, 2024, had ordered to return the recovered amount along with 6 percent annual interest. The petitioner alleges that despite the court’s order, the amount has not been returned till date, due to which a contempt petition has been filed. Displeasure over absence of other officers as well During the hearing, Agriculture Extension Officer SK Nigam and Divisional Pension Officer Namita also did not appear in court. On this, the High Court expressed displeasure and instructed the state government’s advocate to immediately summon both officers to court. The court has also sought an explanation for their absence and negligence. The High Court has clarified that all concerned officers related to the case should appear in person on July 15 and inform about the status of compliance with the order.