Madras High Court Bench in Madurai has imposed a cost of Rs. 50,000 on T.T. Balsamy, former Commissioner of Tiruchi City Municipal Corporation, "for indulging in forum shopping, abusing the process of law and playing a fraud on the court" by filing identical cases in the Bench as well as Principal Seat of the High Court in Chennai for alteration of his date of birth in the service records.
Justice S. Manikumar imposed the cost while dismissing a contempt of court application filed by Mr. Balsamy against Sheela Balakrishnan, Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration Department; the Joint Secretary of the same department; Deputy Secretary S. Chandramani and Commissioner of Municipal Administration Chandra Kant B. Kamble.
The judge directed the applicant to pay the cost to the officials against whom he had filed the contempt. He also withdrew an order, passed by him in a writ petition on July 29 last year, on the ground that it was obtained by the applicant through fraud and suppression of facts. It was the alleged non-compliance of that order which had led to the institution of the present contempt of court plea.
Recalling the history of the case, the judge said that the petitioner had joined government service on October 20, 1984. At that time, his date of birth was shown to be July 4, 1953. But after nine years of service, he made an application on November 27, 1993 to change his date of birth as April 29, 1955 though as per rules such application ought to have been made within five years of entry into service.
His plea for change of date of birth was processed for long. Ultimately on May 13 last year, the then Principal Secretary of Municipal Administration department K. Ashok Vardhan Shetty rejected his request on the ground of limitation. On June 6, 2011, Mr. Balsamy filed a writ petition in the Principal Seat challenging the Principal Secretary's order and simultaneously submitted a representation to the department urging it to review its decision.
The writ petition was dismissed by Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar in the Principal Seat on June 9, 2011. Thereafter, the petitioner filed another writ petition in the Madurai Bench on June 23 the same year seeking alteration of the date of birth by considering the representation made by him on June 6. The second case was filed without disclosing the filing of the first case in Chennai.
Further, the contents of the affidavits filed in both the cases were almost identical. In the second case, the petitioner had made a false submission stating: "I have not approached this honourable court or any court or forum or tribunal for the same or similar relief." Unaware of the fraud played by him, the court disposed of the second writ petition on July 29, 2011 with a direction to the officials to consider his plea as he was about to retire on July 31, 2011 and hence the present contempt application.
The judge said that an officer who held the post of Corporation Commissioner should not have indulged in acts such as forum shopping, suppression of facts and playing a fraud on the court.
