Tamil Nadu - Chennai

District judge, court official pulled up

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has taken exception to the inaction by the Principal District Judge, Villupuram, and the Registrar-General of the High Court for not filing their counter-affidavit before the court in connection with a writ petition.

The counter-affidavit was not filed, though sufficient time was given. So, a Division Bench of Justices S.J. Mukhopadhaya and F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla said it was obliged to hear the writ petition and dispose it of by perusing the records and files produced by the Registrar-General.

The Bench was dismissing a petition filed by three persons seeking a direction to the respondents — the Principal District Judge, Villupuram, the Villupuram Collector, and the Registrar-General — to refix their seniority by calculating the entire service they had put in as per the Special Rules for Tamil Nadu Basic Services and by applying a Division Bench judgment, and grant them all benefits, including promotion and monetary benefits, on a par with juniors.

They were appointed in the Highways Department in 1982/1985. Since their service was found redundant, it was surrendered to the Collector. He redeployed them in the service of the Principal District Judge. They said that since the surrender of their service and their redeployment was not of their own volition, they were entitled to protection of their past service in the Highways Department.

In his counter-affidavit, the Collector supported the petitioners’ claim.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu