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Patna,(BiharTimes): A division bench comprising Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Vikas Jain of the Patna high court on Friday issued a warrant of arrest against former HRD Secretary K K Pathak in a case of criminal contempt of court following his order to recover excess payment from teachers of universities despite the court directive not to take any coercive action against them. |
The court issued the arrest warrant as Pathak did not appear before it on Friday in response to its summons issued on March 2. The court, however, said it could consider granting bail if the official gave an undertaking to appear before it on the next date of hearing on April 6.
Pathak is currently on central deputation, posted as joint secretary in the Union home ministry.
It needs to be recalled that a single bench comprising Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh initiated suo moto contempt proceedings against Pathak in September 2010 after he as the then HRD secretary ordered the recovery of excess payment. The court had earlier ordered "no coercive action while hearing petitions of Patna University teachers, Vinay Kanth, Dharmsheela Prasad and P K Poddar.
During the civil contempt proceedings, Pathak did not respond to repeated summonses issued by the single bench. He was even fined Rs 25,000 for defying the court order. The single bench later initiated criminal contempt proceedings and referred the matter to the division bench.
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