The civic commissioner in court on Monday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) commissioner Debashis Som, along with Arup Mondal, deputy personnel officer VI, CMC, appeared before Justice Girish Chandra Gupta of the high court on Monday morning in the matter of an application under Article 215 of the Constitution, for contempt of court and ?wilful, deliberate disobedience and violation? by Som and Mondal of Justice Gupta?s order dated November 25, 2004.

Justice Gupta dispensed with personal appearance by Som and Mondal and directed them to file replies in affidavits within three weeks.

The judge gave a week to petitioner Dipankar Sinha, deputy chief engineer (solid waste management-I), CMC, now under suspension, to file his reply in opposition.

Earlier, on November 25, 2004, Justice Gupta had vacated the suspension order on Sinha with immediate effect. But Sinha was not allowed to join.

Subsequently, Sinha had filed the contempt application before the court on December 17, 2004.

On reading Sinha?s petition of December 17, 2004, Justice Gupta had issued a rule calling upon Som and Mondal to show cause as to why they should not be imprisoned.

Flouting its own service rules, the CMC has kept under suspension Sinha, who is also the only master?s in town planning, as well as a qualified architect, in the CMC. According to CMC service rules, charges have to be brought against anybody under suspension within six months.

On May 27, 2003, Sinha received a letter signed by municipal commissioner Som to the effect that disciplinary proceedings were in contemplation against him. Hence, he was suspended with immediate effect.

Although no reason was cited in this letter, it is alleged that Sinha was being victimised because ever since he joined the conservancy department in 2002, at the behest of Mala Roy, then mayoral council member in charge of conservancy, he had brought to light financial irregularities in the department. It is also alleged that Sinha was caught in the crossfire between her and the mayor.

Since his suspension, Sinha had been receiving 75 per cent of his salary up to November 2004. Sinha, who joined the CMC in 1989 as municipal architect and town planner, had spearheaded the movement against illegal buildings in north Calcutta in the late 90s. He had prepared the list of 5,000 waterbodies in the city, the first of its kind, and had drafted heritage laws.

The CMC, Som and Mondal were represented by senior advocate Saktinath Mukherjee and Alok Ghosh and Achintya Banerjee. Sinha was represented by senior advocate Bikash Bhattacharya, Nandini Mitra and Shubhasish Bhattacharya.