Puducherry Transport and Education Minister P.M.L. Kalyanasundaram on Monday got temporary relief with the Madras High Court ordering that he should not be arrested till October 12 in a case relating to alleged impersonation in Standard X supplementary examination.
Justice C.S. Karnan passed the order on an anticipatory bail petition by the Minister. He posted the case for further hearing on Wednesday.
In his petition, Mr. Kalyanasundaram stated that he was a candidate for the standard X supplementary examination in science and social science and had been given a hall ticket.
The examination centre was Tagore Matriculation High School, Tindivanam.
He wrote the science examination on September 29.
Before he took the examination, his hall ticket and the answer sheet were verified.
He did not appear for the examination the next day as he was held up in a meeting in the Assembly.
Recently he came to know that at the instance of the Chief Educational Officer, Villupuram district, Kuppusamy, an FIR had been registered against him and two others alleging that the “person in the photograph affixed in the hall ticket issued to the petitioner had not written the examination and that it came to be known from an enquiry made with the Chief Superintendent of the examination centre.”
He said that every examinee was permitted inside the hall only after verification of the identity card and serial number.
Whether the particular person was writing the examination would also be verified. Therefore, cheating by impersonation was impossible.
Further hearing
Mr. Justice Karnan posted the case for further hearing on October 12. In the meantime, he ordered the minister not be arrested.
