Calcutta, Feb. 16: Calcutta High Court today sent Tarak Mallik, the block development officer (BDO) of Islampur in North Dinajpur, to jail for a week and fined him Rs 5,000 for not obeying an earlier directive.

In the previous order, the court had directed Mallik to appoint Gopi Krishna Banerjee, the petitioner of the case, as secretary of a gram panchayat in the district.

Banerjee was the second person on a list of eligible candidates prepared by the district administration for appointment to the post of gram panchayat secretary in January 2006. Hasim Mollah, also a resident of Islampur, was the first name on the list.

In September last year, Banerjee wrote to the then BDO Madhusudan Roy claiming that Mollah had been convicted in a criminal case while the trial for another was pending. Since conviction in court amounts to disqualification of candidature, Banerjee demanded that the job be given to him instead.

Mollah took the case to the high court, suppressed information, and obtained an order in favour of his appointment. On the basis of that order Mallik appointed Mollah to the said post.

When Banerjee approached the high court with proof to validate his claims, the court reversed its order and issued a second one asking Mallick to terminate Mollah’s service and appoint Banerjee to the same post.

Banerjee’s counsel Kalyan Banerjee informed the high court today that Mallik had not complied with the court’s directive. At this, the court ordered Mallik’s imprisonment and asked him to pay the fine.

Justice A. Banerjee today also fined Madhusudan Roy, former BDO of Islampur, Rs 1,020 for committing a similar offence. He has been transferred to Bankura as deputy magistrate.