Hyderabad: The Telangana high court on Monday questioned why state govt officers were shying away from appearing before the court despite failing to comply with its orders.Hearing a contempt petition in which it had earlier issued bailable warrants against senior IAS officers Sandeep Kumar Sultania and Vikas Raj for personal appearance, Justice NV Shravan Kumar strongly criticised the casual approach of state officials, emphasising that judicial orders are mandatory and must be strictly respected.The contempt plea stems from non-compliance with an April 24, 2025 order in a writ petition, which had directed authorities to deposit land acquisition amounts to the petitioners from Jogulamba Gadwal district.The judge remarked that non-compliance and seeking routine exemptions from appearance have become a “casual affair”.Expressing grave concern over how an officer (Vikas Raj) could travel abroad (official tour to Japan) despite standing directions to appear, the court questioned what the govt’s position would be if he was arrested at the airport.The court further warned that the “judiciary cannot continue to be overly generous or accommodating towards officers who display scant respect for judicial directives”.When counsel for the officers sought to submit a counter-affidavit along with applications to recall previous directions and seek exemption from the officers’ personal appearance, citing their preoccupation with an ongoing Legislative Assembly session, the court refused to entertain such routine requests. It strongly criticised state officials for failing to fulfil their primary duty to compensate individuals whose lands were acquired, pointing out that despite conditional orders and multiple adjournments, the govt had failed to pay even half of the required amount.Terming the defence – that payments would be made on a “priority basis” subject to budget limitations — as completely unacceptable, the bench questioned the state’s priorities in governance and highlighted that officers do not do the court or the public any favour by simply fulfilling their statutory obligations.Later, after taking note that the court orders had been complied with, the judge closed the contempt proceedings.
