CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Police Commissioner S George was at the receiving end on Thursday when a single judge of the Madras High Court accused him for his alleged lethargy in providing protection to a whistle-blower and failing to appear before the court.
Flaying the attitude of officers for not complying with court orders and refusing to appear in courts, Justice N Kirubakaran observed that if top officers showed such an attitude to judicial orders, how would their subordinates respect the courts.
“Court is not a place of sin and the Commissioner need not consider his appearance in court as a prestige issue. Let him appear tomorrow or day after at his convenience,” the judge said.
When Advocate-General R Muthukumaraswamy pleaded with the judge to spare George from personal appearance, the judge rejected the plea saying the court normally applied its mind carefully in contempt proceedings. Once the court made up its mind that the personal appearance of the person concerned was mandatory, it should be obeyed, the judge said and asked the AG not to embarrass the court with his pleas.
The judge was entertaining a contempt application from Thangavelu’s counsel AP Suryaprakasam, who wanted the court to punish George for his wilful disobedience of the order dated December 2, 2016.
Originally, Pon Thangavelu of Injambakkam had filed a writ petition stating that the local councillor Annamalai had been paying a meagre `55 to `110 as annual property tax for his five bungalows, against several thousands of rupees the councillor should be paying.
The case had led the court to call for the property details of all councillors in the past 10 years. It also came to light that the councillor owned properties worth several crores but declared nil in his election affidavit. As the scope of the case expanded and turned out to be a burning political issue, the court had directed the police chief to provide protection to Thangavelu.