Ranchi, Jun 11 (PTI) The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday held Sahibganj Additional Collector Gautam Bhagat guilty of contempt of court and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 to be recovered from him.

The matter is related to the violation of a high court order on the auction of ghats for ferry services on the river Ganga in Sahibgaj district.

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Petitioner Ankush Rajhan brought this to the notice of a division bench comprising Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Deepak Roshan, which found Bhagat guilty of flouting the directions of the court and slapped a fine of Rs 2,000 on him.

Rajhans had challenged the tender conditions floated by the Sahibganj district administration for the allotment of ghats through which ferry services would be operated across the Ganga river.

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The high court was informed that the administration had mentioned Garam Ghat and Kursela Ghat in the goods route of the ferry service. But those ghats were not notified.

The high court had said that the auction of ghats should be restricted to notified ghats and ordered the Sahibganj district administration to ensure that no tender should be invited for the ones not notified.

However, in violation of the direction, the Sahibganj additional collector had floated a tender for the allocation of ghats which were not notified, the court was informed.

The division bench then found Bhagat guilty of contempt of court.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)