Justice B. Devanand of the Andhra Pradesh High Court sentenced eight IAS officers — Gopal Krishna Dwivedi, M. Girija Shankar, M.M. Naik, B. Rajasekhar, J. Syamala Rao, V. Chinna Veerabhadrudu, Y. Srilakshmi and G. Srkr. Vijay Kumar — to simple imprisonment for two weeks and to pay a fine of ₹1,000 each in a contempt case, but modified his order after the officials tendered an unconditional apology for failing to discharge their duties.
Conceding the officers’ plea, Justice Devanand directed that they should instead visit the social welfare and ST and BC welfare hostels in the districts any one Sunday every month for 12 months, spend some time with the students/wards to motivate them, and arrange a sumptuous lunch or dinner by spending their personal money.
The court said the contemnors should send photos of their visits to the hostels every month to the High Court Registrar (Judicial) to enable him to keep them in the case records.
