Madras HC Slaps Rs 50 Lakh Fine On Tamil Nadu Govt For Withholding Salaries, Orders Disciplinary Action

Chennai: The Madras High Court has imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on the Tamil Nadu government for not implementing the order issued to pay salaries to those appointed in non-teaching posts in a private college.

A case was filed in the Madras High Court seeking an order to pay salaries to 12 non-teaching employees appointed at GPG Visalakshi Women's College in Udumalaipettai, Tiruppur district. The High Court, which heard the case, had issued an order to pay salaries to the employees. An appeal was filed against this order by the Secretary of the Higher Education Department, the Director of College Education, and the Joint Director of College Education, Coimbatore Zone.

The bench comprising Justices R Subramanian and G Arulmurugan, which heard the appeals, had ordered that "Director of College Education C Poorna Chandran should appear and explain the approval of the appointments on the condition that no more appointments should be made to the 12 employees approved in 1987. The government should also submit documents regarding the teaching and non-teaching staff posts approved for Visalakshi Women's College."

In this backdrop, the case came up for hearing again in the High Court on Tuesday. Justices R Subramanian and G. Arulmurugan condemned the fact that Director of College Education Poorna Chandran, who appeared in the High Court as per the order, stood like a pillar without answering any of the questions raised by the court, which was unfortunate.

The judges also alleged that the officials of the Directorate of College Education had prevented the truth from coming out in the court by stating that the government did not have the documents regarding the approved teaching and non-teaching staff posts. The judges dismissed the Tamil Nadu government's appeal case with a fine of Rs 50 lakh.

Pointing out that the fine was imposed due to the non-cooperation and stubbornness of the officers of the Directorate of College Education in this case, the judges ordered the Tamil Nadu government to "collect Rs 25 lakh of the fine from the Director of College Education Poorana Chandran. The remaining Rs 25 lakh should be collected from the officers responsible for the disappearance of the documents," the judges also ordered.

In addition, 12 non-teaching employees should be paid Rs 1.50 lakh each as salary within eight weeks. The remaining Rs 32 lakh of the fine paid by the Tamil Nadu government should be paid to the Cancare Foundation and Netrodaya Organisations at the rate of Rs 12 lakh each within eight weeks, the judges also ordered. They also ordered the Higher Education Secretary to take disciplinary action against the officers responsible for the disappearance of the documents in the Directorate of College Education.

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