The Madras High Court has observed that if court orders are not complied with by government officials, it would be a threat to the rule of law, which is the foundation of governance.
This needs to be followed without fail. A constitutional functionary is no exception to this, the court said.
Justice S.Nagamuthu made the observation while treating as closed a contempt petition seeking to punish the Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, M.Vijayakumar, for not obeying a court order of June 17 last year. It pertained to recruitment of VAOs. He accepted the apology of the Secretary.
Earlier, the Judge had directed the Commission to operate the reserve list to fill 352 vacancies of VAOs. The posts were already vacant or fell vacant between September 15, 2012 and January 2, 2013.
The Advocate-General, A.L.Somayaji, said the court order had been complied with. But there was some delay because of various reasons. The Judge said that in this case, the Commission had acted reluctantly, if not indifferently. It would not have given effect to the reserve list in full, if the petitioner had not moved the contempt plea. But, he said, he was accepting Mr.Vijayakumar’s unconditional apology.
