The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the interim administrator of Pachaiyappa’s Trust Board to look into allegations of corrupt activities by its erstwhile administrators on the issue of selection of principals for the colleges run by the trust across the State and consequently lodge a complaint with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC).
Justice S.M. Subramaniam also directed the DVAC to conduct a thorough probe and initiate appropriate action against the accused. The direction was issued after setting aside the appointment of N. Shettu as the principal of Pachaiyappa’s College in Chennai and the selections made for the post of principal in three other colleges run by the trust in Chennai and Kancheepuram.
The judge held that the appointment as well as the selections had been made illegally without following the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms of considering all colleges run by a trust as one unit for the purpose of promoting the eligible faculty members serving in those institutions to the post of principal on the basis of merit-cum-seniority.
Wondering how the Directorate of Collegiate Education could have approved of the appointment of Mr. Shettu, the judge ordered that every other government official responsible for the lapse should also be made accountable since the colleges run by the trust were government-aided institutions.
The judge saidthe University of Madras too had superficially verified the proposal submitted by the erstwhile administrators of the trust without analysing whether it was legal on their part to have selected principals for four colleges by considering each college as a separate unit.
“This court has no doubt in its mind that the authorities had committed these illegalities and violations wantonly and intentionally in order to extend favouritism and nepotism to a few people whom they considered as their own men or their choice... Thus, officials must be personally held liable and all suitable stringent actions are to be initiated against them,” the judge said.
Pointing out that the selections had been made prior to the appointment of the High Court’s former judge P. Shanmugam as the interim administrator of the trust on June 14 last year, Justice Subramaniam said the incumbent administrator too had filed a written statement in court that the procedure adopted by the erstwhile administrators was not right.
Explaining the reasons for him ordering a DVAC probe though the cases before him were related only to service disputes over selection of principals, the judge said: “Judges are not goldsmiths to create ornaments as per the orders placed by their customers. Judges are bound to look in and around the society and initiate action in the event of noticing any unconstitutionality.
“Thus, it is not as if the Constitutional courts, while exercising the powers under Article 226 (writ jurisdiction) of the Constitution, must decide only the reliefs and the pleadings. Writ proceedings cannot be equated with civil suits. The faith of the people is the bedrock on which the edifice of judicial review and efficacy of the adjudication are founded.
“Erosion of credibility of the judiciary, in the public mind, for whatever reasons, is greatest threat to the independence of the judiciary. We live in an age of accountability. What is required of judges is changing.”
