CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has set aside an order of a lower court imposing a cost of `25,000 on the Block Development Officer (BDO), Pallipattu taluk, Tiruvallur district.
Justice S Vimala granted the relief to the BDO while allowing revision petitions from the officer. N Velu contested for the village panchayat president’s post. Since he and G Velu got an equal number of votes, the BDO chose by lot and G Velu was declared elected.
Alleging that the BDO had adopted corrupt counting practice , N Velu filed an election petition to declare the election of G Velu as null and void. The PDJ, Tiruvallur allowed the petition and imposed a cost of `25,000 on the BDO. Hence, the present petitions from N Velu and the BDO. The judge set aside the order of the principal district judge, Tiruvallur. The judge sent the petition back to the lower court for re-trial.