Patna, Sept. 2: Former human resource development department secretary K.K. Pathak, who has not appeared on six occasions in a contempt case before the Patna High Court, may now have to face legal action.
The court had reserved its judgment on September 1.
A source in the court said Pathak will not escape punishment in the contempt proceedings despite being transferred to another department.
The government last night transferred Pathak and made him the managing director of Bihar State Electronic Development Corporation (Beltron).
Supreme Court advocate P.P. Rao told The Telegraph: 'Transfer to any other department will not have any impact on the contempt proceedings against the officer. The proceedings were initiated against the person and not against the post. Contempt proceedings were initiated because of the person's past conduct. So he cannot get any relief despite being transferred to another department.'
The court can award him imprisonment up to six months. On July 30, the high court had initiated contempt proceedings against Pathak, directing him to be personally present in the court on the next date of hearing, which was August 18.
After that, Pathak was summoned five more times — on August 20, 24, 25, 26 and September 1.
Pathak did not turn up for any of the hearing. On August 26, the court gave Pathak another opportunity to appear before it and asked additional advocate-general Lalit Kishore to convince him to come to the court.
The court, while reserving its judgment yesterday, had asked the advocate-general to apprise it of what action the government is contemplating against the erring official who had disregarded the authority of two constitutional bodies -- the high court and office of the advocate-general.
Advocate-general P.K. Shahi said: 'It is difficult for me to defend such officials. We are all officers of the court. If the authority of the court is challenged by anybody, then we are not here to protect that person. We tried to convince Pathak to appear in court, but he did not come.'
The Patna High Court had initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against Pathak for ordering the authorities concerned to make recoveries of excess payment from teachers of the various universities despite the court's earlier directive that no coercive action would be taken against the teachers in this regard.
The court was hearing petitions filed by three Patna University teachers -- Vinay Kanth, Dharmsheela Prasad and P.K. Poddar.
The three had challenged the human resource department's order which threatened to withhold salary grants of next ten months if the department orders on absorptions and recovery of extra payment were not complied with immediately.