The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Bench reproaches officials for not reinstating teacher

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Saturday, Jun 17, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Bench reproaches officials for not reinstating teacher

Staff Reporter

Deliberate dereliction of duty and executive arrogance, says court

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has reprimanded state officials for not reinstating a schoolteacher despite orders from the State Administrative Tribunal and the High Court.

Passing interim orders on a writ petition filed by a suspended teacher from Madurai,Justice Makena Eswara Narasimha Patrudu said, "These acts of the officials are nothing but deliberate dereliction of duty and executive arrogance.

"It is time the judiciary and executive checked such malfunctioning officials to wipe the tears of the commoner for whose benefit and at whose cost they are functioning."

Recalling the plight of the petitioner, who was suspended on June 24, 2003, the judge said, "The charges (against her) are not very serious." The teacher filed an application before the Tribunal, which passed its orders on January 13, 2004, directing the officials to revoke the suspension order after the petitioner appeared for a domestic enquiry. Though the enquiry was completed in a month thereafter and the enquiry officer submitted a report on February 2, 2004, "the officials had no time to verify the same for 16 months ... and the petitioner was forced to continue in suspension despite the enquiry officer not finding her guilty of the alleged misconduct."

Court order disobeyed

"The petitioner, like many other innocent and ignorant citizens of this holy country, continued to suffer and did not prefer to approach the Tribunal for contempt against the respondents... The subsistence allowance was also stopped from January 2004... "

The judge, directing the Bench Registry to initiate suo motu contempt proceedings against the officer concerned, ordered that the Madurai Collector verify the facts of the case and submit a report in 10 days.

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