A series of strict action against senior officers by the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court of late has  created a flutter in the state administration.

The officers concerned are facing the heat for failure to comply with court orders.

While Uttar Pradesh principal secretary RM Srivastava was taken into custody by the police on the court’s direction on Tuesday for contempt of court, several other top officers have been asked to present themselves in court or face the music.

In Tuesday’s case, Srivastava was booked for not complying with court order to provide security to former state minister Ramveer Upadhyay of the BSP.

Srivastva got relief from a double bench of high court after he filed a special petition. The court reserved the order of a single-judge bench and stopped further proceedings after hearing Srivastava. But the officer has been summoned on May 23 on a petition filed by one Sudha Yadav pertaining to another case. The court has pulled up Srivastva for not giving explanation regarding transfer of an officer dealing with investigation report on kidnapping.

In another matter, principal secretary (stamp and registration) KL Meena was taken into custody for contempt of court. On May 7 itself,  additional commissioner Faizabad SK Singh was also sent to jail by the court on contempt charges.

The Faizabad district magistrate (DM) is also facing a contempt case, whereas the high court has issued arrest warrant against Lucknow  DM of Anurag Yadav, his Amethi counterpart Jagatraj Yadav and principal secretary in village development department Rajeev Kumar. All three officers have been asked to appear in court after being taken into custody.

In a separate matter of contempt, special secretary (education) Harendra Vir Singh, senior IAS officer Kamran Rizvi and Chanchal Kumar had been summoned on different dates for not complying with the high court's order.

The court has served show-cause notice in four different cases and summoned four officers on July 4.

Earlier, the court  took serious view of noncompliance of its orders and  warned the errant officers that contempt of court has become a routine affair.