Hyderabad, Jan. 28 -- The Telangana High Court on Tuesday, January 28, ruled that government officials cannot escape responsibility for implementing court orders by claiming they were transferred after such orders were passed.

Taking serious note of the failure to pay compensation to a 74-year-old woman whose land was acquired 15 years ago for the Mid Manair project, the court directed former Revenue Secretary Naveen Mittal and former Sircilla Collector Sandeep Kumar Jha to appear in person on March 24.

The case was heard by Justice NV Shravan Kumar, who also ordered that the pending compensation be paid within eight weeks.

Petitioner B Ramavva had earlier approached the Telangana High Court over the non-payment of compensation for lan...