HC fines ACS Rs 25,000 over ‘erratic’ compliance report

Bhopal/Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh high court has imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on additional chief secretary (food and civil supplies) Rashmi Arun Shami after expressing dismay over what it described as an “erratic” compliance report filed in response to one of its earlier orders.

The court directed that the amount be deposited by the officer personally and not from the public exchequer.The order was passed by Justice Vishal Mishra while hearing a petition filed by Manish Vyas and others. In the compliance report, Shami informed the court that its direction to consider the regularisation of the petitioners’ services had been complied with.Counsel for the petitioners, however, submitted that while the court had only directed the authorities to consider the employees’ regularisation, the department instead granted them permanent status and treated that as compliance with the court’s order in the report filed on June 16, 2026.During the hearing, Shami acknowledged the mistake and submitted that an erratic order had been issued in purported compliance with the court’s directions and that the compliance report placed before the court was also erroneous.Observing that such lapses were not expected from a senior officer holding the post of additional chief secretary, the court imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Shami and directed her to deposit the amount in the account of the Madhya Pradesh High Court Bar Association.