The Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued arrest warrants against two IAS officers after they failed to either engage counsel or file a compliance report in a contempt petition, despite being aware of the proceedings.

Remarking that the State Government has "adopted an absolute inertia in contempt proceedings matters", the bench of Justice Vivek Jain observed:

"The aforesaid act of the respondents depicts a very sorry state of affairs in the administration of the State Government, whereby they have adopted an absolute inertia in the matter of contempt petitions and they simply write letter to the Registry of this Court informing about appointment of a Contact Officer, but thereafter do not engage a counsel nor file any compliance report. Therefore, this court has no option but to issue arrest warrants against the respondents".

The court noted that notices in contempt proceedings were served in September 2025. The Collector of Sagar (respondent no. 2) subsequently informed the court that the Tehsildar of Sagar City was appointed as Contact Officer to deal with the contempt petition.

Noting that they had not cared to enter appearance, the Court ordered,

"Let arrest warrants be issued against the respondents which shall be executed by Commissioner of Police, Bhopal and Superintendent of Police, Sagar respectively for respondents No. 1 and 2. These authorities will ensure presence of these respondents before this Court on 21.09.2026".

Accordingly, the court listed the matter for September 21, 2026.

Case Title: Sheela Sen v VP, CONC-4449-2025

For Petitioner: Advocates Kavita Gupta and Vidya Prasad

Click here to read/download the Order