MADURAI: Madras High Court employees are in a quandary over the absence of guidelines for transferring them to the Madurai Bench.

Furthermore, the delay in recruiting personnel for the Bench has added to their woes.

Conceding a long-pending demand of the High Court to sanction 350 additional posts, the Home Department, on December 14 last, gave its consent to create 296 posts, of which 200 were allotted to the Madurai Bench and the rest to the principal seat in Chennai.

The Government also accorded sanction to incur a recurring expenditure of Rs.3,94,77,658 towards their salaries and a non-recurring expenditure of Rs.17 lakh for buying amenities, including furniture. It was decided to include the expenditure in the supplementary estimates for 2006-07.

Adequate strength

Giving reasons for not sanctioning the remaining 54 posts, the Government said the principal seat had an adequate strength of 314 office assistants, so there was no need to sanction 35 more posts.

It was also pointed out that 20 posts from the abolished Tamil Nadu Administrative Tribunal were transferred to the High Court in October. The matter is now pending before the Chief Justice, who has to decide on the mode of appointing 296 personnel after consulting the other judges. "The issue is under consideration and we are yet to work out the modalities such as conducting written test, interview and so on," a senior court official said.

Forty-three office assistants, 25 sweepers and scavengers, 20 section officers, 12 personal assistants to judges, 10 bailiffs and such other personnel will be appointed for the Madurai Bench, while the posts sanctioned for the principal seat include 20 computer operators, 19 assistants and 10 appeal examiners.

Temporary additional posts

The Bench was established on July 24, 2004. Five months before it was set up, the Home Department sanctioned the creation of 147 temporary additional posts for one year or till the need therefore ceased. It further ordered the transfer of 358 employees from the principal seat to the Madurai Bench.

Though the temporary posts were filled immediately, the High Court transferred only 272 staff members, in phases, owing to the paucity of staff in the principal seat.

The transferees were chosen randomly because just a handful had expressed their willingness to work in Madurai.

Transfer on rotation basis

After persistent requests made by the employees, it was decided to transfer them on a rotation basis every year.

It was also resolved to prepare a seniority list and follow it in an ascending order for effecting transfers. But the procedure did not last long, as some of the staff members managed to escape from being transferred.

The timeframe of one year was also not followed strictly.

"I lose more than Rs.1, 000 from my monthly wages while working in Madurai. Besides living alone, away from my family in a rented room, which costs another Rs.1,000, leads to mental pressure," says a court official, who prefers anonymity.

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