THE Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has issued contempt notices to the Education Officer (Secondary), Zilla Parishad, Nagpur and the Deputy Director ( E d u c a t i o n ) , Nagpur Region, forallegedly failing to comply with its earlier order. ADivision Bench of Justice Anil L Pansare and Justice Rajnish R Vyas heard the matter on Monday. Earlier in the day, the court allowed the petitioner Gajanan Bisanji Vaidya to withdraw a civil application with liberty to file a fresh one. When the contempt petition was taken up later, the court permitted the petitioner to add the present Deputy D i r e c t o r (Education) and Education Officer as respondents. The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the High Court’s order dated July 10, 2024, in the related writ petition had still not been implemented. Education Officer Anil Dahiphale appeared before the court in person.

 

Through the Assistant Government Pleader, he informed the court that action could not be taken due to the non-availability of required documents. The Bench expressed surprise over the explanation. It observedthat both the Education Officer and the Deputy Director (Education) were custodians of the relevant records and were expected to act in accordance with the court’s earlier order. The court said it was of the prima facie view that the authorities had committed contempt of court. It issued notices to Education Officer Anil Dahiphale and Deputy Director of Education Madhuri Sawarkar and directed them to respond within two weeks.The Bench, however, said the alleged contemnors could purge the contempt by complying with the earlier order before the next hearing. Adv P V Thakare represented the petitioner while AGP S B Bissa for respondent State.