A police complaint has been lodged against Sivakasi Revenue Divisional Officer R. Dhinakaran for using his official vehicle that had been attached by the court and left in safe custody at his office.
Serastadar of Sivakasi sub-court P. Navamani lodged the complaint, as directed by the Principal District Judge, with the Inspector of Police, Sivakasi Town, to take appropriate action against the RDO on charge of contempt of court by using the vehicle without its permission.
A plea made by the RDO seeking permission to use the vehicle has been pending with the court and the hearing is scheduled for December 5.
The complainant said that the vehicle, upon attachment, was parked in the car shed at the office of the RDO only for safety purpose.
The vehicle was seized in connection with a case filed by Brahmaraj, who had given his land in Sivakasi for a Tamil Nadu Housing Board project. The court had ordered attachment of the vehicle for failure to pay a balance amount of ₹19.94 lakh to the landlord.
It was attached on November 13 and the court order for attachment was pasted on the vehicle.
Since the court premises did not have enough space for safe parking of the vehicle, it was handed over to the RDO to be parked on his office premises and returned to the court in the same condition. The vehicle’s key was deposited with court officials.
However, upon receiving a complaint from Mr. Brahmaraj that the RDO was using the vehicle without court permission, the sub-judge and the serastadar, along with other court officials, conducted a surprise inspection on Tuesday afternoon.
The vehicle that was left at the car shed was seen parked in the portico and was kept ready for the RDO to leave the office. When Mr. Dhinarakan came out of his office towards the car, he was questioned as to how he used the vehicle when it was officially in the custody of the court. He revealed that a spare key was used.
He claimed that since the vehicle was left in his custody, he used it. Besides, it was revealed that the copy of the court order on attachment pasted on the vehicle had been removed.
After taking possession of the spare key, the vehicle was again parked in the parking shed, which was sealed.
