High Court Orders One Month Jail, Fine Against Dhanusha Land Revenue Chief for Contempt of Court

Janakpur. The High Court in Janakpur has ordered Ganesh Prasad Aryal, the chief of the Land Reform and Revenue Office, Dhanusha, to serve one month in jail and pay a fine of Rs 5,000 for contempt of court.

The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Teknarayan Kanwar and Justice Krishna Prasad Subedi issued the order to fine Aryal.

“It was observed that the court's order was ignored, constituting contempt. It has been previously ruled in similar petitions filed before this court that the office chief failed to comply with the court's order,” the order stated. “In the case of the present petitioner, the respondent is liable to one month imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000 under Section 17, Sub-section (4) of the Judicial Administration Act, 2063.”

The contempt case was filed after Dhanusha resident Ram Rati Devi filed a writ petition seeking a mandamus order to register her land after the Land Revenue Chief failed to make a decision on her application for six years.

The court had issued a mandamus order directing registration within one month after hearing the writ petition. After the court's order was defied for about a year and a half, the affected parties filed a contempt case again.

It was in that case that Land Revenue Office Chief Aryal was sentenced to jail and a fine.

Similarly, in another petitioner's case, the court had fined the said Land Revenue Office chief Rs 500. The order also mentioned that the penalty could be waived if the office chief submitted a petition to the court that was satisfactory, after implementing the previous order with appropriate justification. The legal provision in the criminal justice system states that penalties increase if mistakes are repeated.