Court refuses to quash memos issued to former panchayat staff
Staff Reporter
MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has refused to quash the charge memos issued to seven former panchayat assistants under the Madurai West panchayat union for allegedly misappropriating funds earmarked for purchasing uniforms for employees in 1995.
Dismissing all seven writ petitions by a common order, Justice K. Chandru said the panchayat presidents were authorised to issue the charge memos under the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act, 1994.
Supreme Court rulings
He also cited a few Supreme Court rulings to highlight that High Courts could not interfere with departmental inquiries at the preliminary stage of issuing charge memos.
The petitioners attached to the Veerapandi, Alathur, Tiruppalai, Ambalathadi, Eraniam, Kovilpapakudi and Naganakulam panchayats were accused of abetting the Block Development Officer in embezzling the funds by creating fictitious accounts.
They were given the charge memos in 2005 and asked to explain why they should not be removed from service for their misconduct.
On the petitioners’ contention that they could not be penalised for an occurrence that had taken place a decade ago, the judge said the Supreme Court in the Government of Andhra Pradesh Versus V. Appala Swamy (2007) had held that a charge memo could not be quashed on the ground of delay.
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