Tamil Nadu officials face 30,000 contempt pleas since 2000

CHENNAI: Pointing out that about 30,840 contempt pleas has been filed in the Madras high court since 2000, seeking action against government authorities who failed to implement various orders of the court,

Justice N Kirubakaran

has said, “Government officials were sleeping over court orders like

Rip Van Winkle

.”

On Thursday, it ordered appearance of higher education secretary and member secretary of Teachers Recruitment Board among others in the court on Friday by 2.15pm.

The issue pertains to a plea moved by S Venkatachalam and five others seeking to declare government order dated January 5, 2016 that the B Ed degree course offered by the

Vinayaka Missions University

,

Salem

is not equivalent to B Ed of Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University, Chennai from academic year 2015-16 onwsards.

The court on November 30, 2017 held that is not applicable to the degrees obtained from Vinayaka Missions University and the petitioners are entitled to be appointed, whenever the other selected students are appointed, as the petitioners possess valid degrees and they have also qualified in the Teachers Eligibility Test and their names find place in the select list of candidates.

Though the order was passed in November 2017, the petitioners were not given appointments, having been called for certificate verification already. Hence, the matter was mentioned before the court and was called on February 16, 20, 22, March 1, and 14 for compliance and again on March 22, when it was represented that the government took a decision to make appointment of the petitioners. Therefore, based on the representation the plea was adjourned by two weeks.

As the government submitted that it has decided to prefer an appeal over the order after taking so many adjournments, Justice

Kirubakaran

said, “It is the prerogative of any party to file an appeal, if that party is aggrieved over the order. The order was passed in November, 2017.

Thereafter, the matter was listed many times. Neither the government has taken any steps to file appeal in time nor shown any interest to implement the order.”

Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.