CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has dismissed a public interest litigation petition challenging the appointment of Sai Kumar as the Chief Secretary (CS) of Tamil Nadu replacing N Muruganandam, by the Election Commission of India.
The petition was filed by K Veerasamy of Aranthangi in Pudukkottai district. He alleged that Sai Kumar had served as the secretary to the CM when Edappadi K Palaniswami held the post, and had also served in key positions having ‘close administrative proximity’ to the latter.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan observed that a PIL is not maintainable against service matters as the petition challenges the order of posting of the chief secretary. “The petition is to challenge the posting order, so this is a service matter. We are not entertaining service matters in PIL,” it said before dismissing the petition.
Sai Kumar was appointed as CS on April 8, 2026. The counsel for the petitioner pressed for hearing the matter as it involved larger questions of neutrality in the order of the ECI to replace the incumbent CS with another officer who has ‘close proximity’ to the former CM.
The appointment, made during the ongoing election process and as part of multiple high-level transfers, gives rise to a reasonable apprehension regarding the neutrality of the administration, he said.
The petition noted that the ECI has not responded to repeated representations to disclose the reasons for selecting the particular officer and stated that a mid-election replacement of the incumbent, part of an apparently endemic series of high-level bureaucratic changes when the Model Code of Conduct is in effect, raises apprehension of partisanship amongst the citizens.
Further, it said that although Article 324 of the Constitution confers wide powers on the ECI, such powers are not absolute and must be exercised in a fair, reasonable and transparent manner.
The petition prayed for quashing the ECI order to appoint Sai Kumar as the CS.