LUCKNOW, June 7 -- Taking a stern view of non-compliance with its orders in two separate cases, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court imposed a cost of Rs.5,000 each on two IAS officers. The court directed that the amount be paid from the officers' personal funds, and not from the government exchequer, to compensate the petitioners who were compelled to file contempt petitions due to non-compliance with the court's directions. Both orders were passed on May 25 and uploaded on the court's website later. In the first case, a single bench of Justice Saurabh Lavania directed principal secretary (rural development) Saurabh Babu to comply with the court's earlier order and pay Rs.5,000 as costs to petitioner Ashish Kumar Dubey within two weeks. The court said that upon compliance, he would not be required to appear before it. In the second case, the court directed commissioner (rural development) Gaurishankar Priyadarshi to comply with the earlier order and pay Rs.5,000 each to petitioner Brijendra Kumar Srivastava and two others within two weeks. The court observed that if the directions were complied with within the stipulated period, the officer would not be required to appear before it. The case pertains to non-compliance with the court's March 11, 2026 order directing payment of full leave encashment dues to the three petitioners by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Lucknow. The court said the costs had been imposed because the officers failed to comply with the writ court's orders within the prescribed time, forcing the petitioners to initiate contempt proceedings....