The Andhra Pradesh High Court has sentenced a Tahsildar of C. Belagal Mandal of Kurnool district to six months of simple imprisonment along with ₹2,000 penalty for contempt of court. The court, however, suspended the order by three weeks allowing the Tahsildar to appeal to the court in the case.
The Mandal Revenue Officer (Tahsildhar) of C. Belagal Mandal of Kurnool district had defied the Court’s orders of September 16, 2021 to execute mutation of agriculture land belonging to P. Karim Shab. Passing the orders in the contempt case based on an appeal made by Karim Saheb, the High Court took objection to the Tahsildhar’s wilful disobeying of the order and said it amounted to contempt of the court.
A farmer Pinjari Karim Shab, the native of Mudumala village in C. Belagal Mandal, had been tilling 11 acres 73 cents of agricultural land in the survey number 430/1 and he made an application to the Tahsildar to mutate his land in the records, but the Tahsildar ejected his grievance saying it belonged to Erladinne Masjid.
The farmer approached the A.P. High Court, which ordered the Tahsildar to make mutation of his land, but the Tahsildhar defied the court order and delayed the mutation process. The farmer again approached the High Court and on February 8 (a copy of the order was made available by the court on February 18) it sentenced the Tahsildar to six months simple imprisonment along with a fine of ₹2,000.
The court said in the order that since he was a Tahsildar and a post-graduate, he would be allowed 3 weeks to appeal against the sentence now.
