An advocate on Thursday issued notice to the State Tourism Secretary and the managing trustee of Tamil Maiyam here stating that they had “wilfully disobeyed” the order of the High Court and “consequently committed contempt of court,” in the matter relating to Chennai Sangamam, a cultural festival.
In his notice to S.S. Jawahar, Tourism Secretary and Chairman of Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC), and Jegath Gaspar Raj, managing trustee of the Maiyam, M. Radhakrishnan, advocate for P. Pugalenthi, who filed a writ petition seeking to forbear the Tamil Nadu Government and the TTDC from associating themselves with Tamil Maiyam for conducting the festival, cited the TTDC's counter affidavit and the High Court order on the petition on January 7. The court had ordered that as undertaken by the official authorities, no advertisement issued by the government for popularising the festival should carry the name of Maiyam.
He said that in view of the counter affidavit, it was clear the entire advertisement campaign would be undertaken by the Tourism Department. Despite the court order, all advertisements released in the media carried Tamil Maiyam's name.
Also, the buses deployed by the MTC for the festival displayed the organisation's name. The invitation of the Tamil Nadu government issued for the function inauguration carried not only the name of Tamil Maiyam as the one inviting the dignitaries along with the Department of Tourism and Culture, but the invitation envelope asserted that the festival was organised only by the organisation.
The notice said the Tourism Secretary and Tamil Maiyam had wilfully disobeyed the court order and consequently committed contempt of court.
