Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has issued a contempt notice to managing director of Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited (MVVNL) Riya Kejriwal for the alleged non-compliance of an interim order directing the retention of over two-dozen outsourced linemen and helpers and payment of their salaries.A bench of Justice Saurabh Lavania passed the order while hearing a contempt petition filed by Manish Kumar and 22 others. The petitioners said they had been engaged through an outsourcing agency to maintain uninterrupted power supply. However, the superintendent engineer, MVVNL, Amausi region, Lucknow, issued show-cause notices proposing their discontinuation on the ground of a decline in electricity bill recovery. Their services were subsequently terminated.Challenging the action, the petitioners moved the high court, which on April 7, 2026, directed the authorities to retain them in service and pay their salaries until the next date of hearing. Alleging that the interim order has not been implemented, the petitioners approached the court with a contempt plea.Taking note of the submissions, the bench issued a show-cause notice to the MVVNL managing director, asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated for the alleged violation of its order. The court said that in the absence of a satisfactory response, she would have to appear before it.
