The Madras High Court on Monday closed contempt of court proceedings initiated against Governor’s Secretary R. Rajagopal for not having reinstated a Raj Bhavan employee, who was forcible relieved from service in 1996, despite a series of orders passed by the court since 2009. The proceedings were closed after the Secretary reported compliance of court orders.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Manikumar and M. Venugopal issued statutory notice to Mr. Rajagopal last month and insisted on his appearance in the court to explain why were the court orders not obeyed. Subsequently, the contemnor filed a petition to dispense with his appearance, but the judges refused to allow the petition until the orders were complied with.
Accordingly, it was reported to the court on Monday that the orders were complied and the employee S. Nagaraj had joined service at the Raj Bhavan. Though the contempt petition was filed against Ramesh Chand Meena, the former Secretary to Governor, the judges impleaded the incumbent officer since he was well aware of the court orders on the issue.
The issue dates back to 1988 when Mr. Nagaraj, then a Stenotypist with the Animal Husbandry Department got appointed through transfer, as an Assistant in the Governor’s secretariat.
In November 1996, he was relieved from service on the ground that he was only on deputation and directed to report back to the Director of Animal Husbandry. The petitioner challenged the relieving order before the erstwhile Tamil Nadu Administrative Tribunal in 1997 and his case got transferred to the High Court in 2008 after the tribunal was wound up.
A single judge of the High Court allowed the writ petition on September 30, 2009 and quashed the relieving order. Subsequently, on April 18, 2012, a Division Bench of the High Court too dismissed a writ appeal preferred by the Governor’s secretariat. A special leave petition before the Supreme Court also got dismissed on October 25, 2013.
In 2014, the official respondents filed a review petition before the High Court and the petitioner moved a contempt of court petition. The Division Bench of Justices Manikumar and Venugopal dismissed the review petition in October 2015 and kept the contempt proceedings pending with a direction to reinstate the petitioner within two weeks.
Though more than three years had passed since the order was passed, it was reported to the court that the petitioner was yet to be reinstated. Hence, the judges chose to summon the incumbent secretary to the Governor.
