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A division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice P P Naolekar and Justice A Roy directed that Manipur Education Department Commissioner I S Laishram and Principal Power Secretary Ch Virendra Singh be released forthwith after suspending the ten days imprisonment order slapped on them by a single judge at Imphal on July 23.
The arrest warrants issued against two others - Civil Supplies Department Commissioner Shambhu Singh and Food and Civil Supplies Director P Vaiphai - were also suspended by the bench.
The bench took the decision after admitting three separate appeals filed by the four senior Manipur-based IAS officers.
Earlier on July 23, Justice N Surajmani Singh of the Imphal bench of the Gauhati high court had held these officers guilty of non-compliance of court orders and issued summons to state Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh to answer contempt charges.
The summoning of the chief minister led to the Manipur assembly charging Justice N S Singh with breach of privilege and ordering him to appear before the privilege committee.
Following this, the state government withdrew security personnel from the court premises and judges' residences in Imphal and snapped electricity connections forcing Justice Singh and Justice B B Deb to flee Imphal.
Eventually Justice B B Deb, by his order on July 24, stayed the summons issued to the chief minister and also the summons issued to Justice N S Singh by the privilege committee.
On Thursday July 25, security personnel were redeployed at the Imphal bench of the Gauhati high court and the bungalows of the judges, official sources said.
Justice Singh and Justice Deb, who fled Imphal on Wednesday, returned on Thursday and attended court on Friday.
Justice D Biswas who was earlier reported to have left Imphal with the duo was in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, monitoring the situation over telephone.
In Imphal, sources in the state assembly said that Speaker T N Haokip was yet to serve notices to the judges for breach of privilege and interference in the proceedings of the house as he was trying to obtain the opinion of Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi and was also consulting legal experts.
Meanwhile, judicial officers in Manipur went on a two-day mass casual leave from Friday in protest against the attack on the judges' residences on July 24, the day when security was withdrawn.
Lawyers also stayed away from the courts for the third consecutive day.
EARLIER REPORT Legislature-judiciary standoff in Manipur cooling off
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