Supreme Court Stays Telangana High Court's Order Sentencing NTPC Chief To 2 Months Jail In Contempt Case

The Supreme Court bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala on Friday stayed the judgment of the High Court of Telangana which had sentenced the chairman and managing director of National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) Gurdeep Singh and his Secunderabad-based HR general manager Manikanth to two months in jail from criminal contempt.

The Telangana High Court had charged Singh and Manikanth with wilful disobedience of court orders and imposed a penalty of Rs 2,000 each. NTPC was represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Adarsh Tripathi, AOR, Advocate Vikram S. Baid, and Advocate Ajitesh Garg. 

The bench stated–

"Pending further orders, there shall be a stay of the operation of the judgment and order of the Division Bench of the High Court of Telangana."

In December 2022, a bench of Justice Shameem Akther and Justice N Tukaram of the Telangana High Court had charged the two officials who were facing allegations of not adhering to the court order on delivering justice to those who lost their land to the NTPC unit in Ramagundam 42 years ago. The bench had noted that the apology offered by the two officers was not sincere and that it was offered only to get out of the contempt case. However, the bench had suspended the order for six weeks to allow the officials to avail legal remedies to mitigate their sentence.

The Apex Court issued notice in the matter and made it returnable on 30 January 2023.

CASE TITLE: MANIKANTH v. REGONDA SRINIVAS & ORS | C.A. No.128/2023

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