VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court granted relief to senior IAS officer MV Seshagiri Babu, former Secretary of the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE), by issuing an interim stay on a contempt of court verdict. The single judge’s ruling had sentenced Babu to one month in prison and imposed a fine of ₹2,000 for contempt.
A division bench, consisting of Justice R Raghunandan Rao and Justice N Harinath, stayed the sentence for six weeks during a hearing of Babu’s appeal against the earlier verdict by Justice Nimmagadda Venkateswarlu. The bench adjourned the case to October 21 and issued notices to respondent M Vijayalakshmi.
In 2023, M Vijayalakshmi, an administrative officer in the BIE, had petitioned the court to extend her service to 62 years following the state government's decision to raise the retirement age. The court directed Babu, along with the then Principal Secretary (Education) Praveen Prakash, to implement the extension.
However, when her service was not extended, Vijayalakshmi filed a contempt petition. In response, Justice Venkateswarlu sentenced both officers to one month imprisonment and fined them ₹2,000 each for non-compliance with the court's directive.