The father of a mason who died in a petrol bomb attack on a bus four years ago has moved the Madras High Court (Madurai Bench) to punish the State Home Secretary for failing to disburse a compensation of Rs 10 lakh ignoring two court orders.
The petitioner Ganesan of Paramakudi submitted that his son Irulaiya had died three days after miscreants hurled petrol bombs inside a State Transport Corporation bus at Thirupuvanam on which he was travelling on May 20, 2009.
On a petition filed by him seeking compensation from the Home Secretary for negligence in controlling the law and order situation, the High Court had in February 2012 directed the Home Secretary to pay `10 lakh with an interest of eight percent from the date of Irulaiya’s death within two months.
When the Home Secretary failed to honour the judicial verdict, Ganesan issued a notice to the former asking why action must not be initiated against him for committing contempt of court? Soon after this, the Home Secretary filed an appeal challenging the single judge’s order to pay compensation.
However, in July this year, a division bench of the High Court dismissed the appeal and directed the Home Secretary to pay the compensation within two weeks. Yet, the compensation money was not released.
Hence the petitioner approached the court to punish the State Home Secretary for committing contempt of court.
Admitting the petition, a bench comprising Justices M Jaichandren and M Venugopal adjourned the case to October 8.