Ranchi: In a significant judgment, the Jharkhand High Court has held Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rajneesh Kumar and Regional Chief Conservator of Forests (RCCF) D. Venkateshwarlu guilty of contempt of court. However, in light of directions from the Supreme Court, no sentence has been pronounced against the officers at this stage.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Deepak Roshan delivered the verdict on April 17, 2025, after completing the hearing on the contempt petition.
The case was filed by Umayush Multicom Pvt. Ltd., a company that had purchased 74.38 acres of land in Tetulia mouza from Izhar Hussain and Akhtar Hussain on February 10, 2021. The state had claimed the land was protected forest, but the government lost both related cases—WPC 593/2017 and LPA 786/2018.
The matter was later escalated to the Supreme Court (SLP 8108/2021), where the government again failed to get relief. Despite this, DFO Rajneesh Kumar issued a letter prohibiting the company from carrying out any non-forest activities on the land.
This prompted the company to file a contempt petition in the High Court, alleging that the DFO was deliberately trying to obstruct implementation of the court’s verdicts.
The High Court directed the DFO to withdraw all letters that interfered with the previous court decisions regarding the Tetulia land. Instead, Rajneesh Kumar presented a letter issued by RCCF D. Venkateshwarlu and stated that he could not withdraw the directives prohibiting non-forest use of the land.
Following this affidavit, the court included RCCF Venkateshwarlu as a respondent in the contempt proceedings. The state government then filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the contempt ruling.
The Supreme Court, after hearing the matter, instructed the state to present its case before the High Court. It also directed the High Court to withhold any punishment for eight weeks after finding the officers guilty.
In compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions, the High Court declared both officers guilty of contempt but refrained from imposing any punishment. The court also granted them liberty to approach the Supreme Court for further relief.