punjab

Updated: Oct 09, 2015 18:25 IST

The Himachal Pradesh high court on Friday ordered state chief information commissioner Bhim Sen and information commissioner KD Batish to seek an unconditional apology for disobeying its orders in the Priyanka Gandhi land deal case.

The commissioners withdrew an earlier affidavit in which, sources said, they had said they were sorry “if the court deemed them guilty”.

A division bench, comprising Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Sureshwar Thakur, listed November 27 for the next hearing.

The two officers have been asked to file a fresh affidavit of apology.

The high court had on August 7 served a notice on the two officers and asked them to explain why contempt proceedings shouldn’t be initiated as they had “deliberately disobeyed” the court’s order.

Priyanka’s counsel had told the high court that the state information commission had continued hearing the case about divulging of information about her land deals at Chharabra village near Shimla town to an applicant under the RTI Act, despite the court’s stay on it.

Even after the stay on the proceedings of the case, the information commission had pulled up its officers and asked them to explain the delay in proving information before the court ordered the restraint.