Vijayawada: The AP High Court imposed a fine of Rs. 1,000/- each and sentenced five IAS officers to imprisonment ranging from two weeks to one month for not implementing court orders in land acquisition case.

The court, however, allowed the officials to challenge the order and suspended the same for one month. The high court took a serious note of the IAS officials disobeying the court order to pay compensation to a woman, whose land in Nellore district was acquired by the government. The court directed the compensation amount be deducted from the salaries of the officials concerned.

Retired IAS officer Manmohan Singh and S. S. Rawat were sentenced to imprisonment for one month each. Then Nellore district Collector Seshagiri Babu, Mutyala Raju, and M. Imtiyaz were sentenced for two weeks each.