CHENNAI: Hearing a petition by a senior staff of REPCO Bank, the High Court of Madras directed the Egmore police inspector to probe his allegation that another employee of the bank abused him on caste lines and register a case if the allegation was found true.
P Kamalakannan, chief manager of REPCO Bank in Dharmapuri and also general Secretary of REPCO Bank SC/ST Employees Welfare Association, approached the court alleging that he had been a victim of ill-treatment on basis of his caste.
The incident took place in April when the branch managers of the bank got together at a hotel. During the tea break, Kamalakannan said, the project officer of Repco Micro Finance, AG Venkatachalam, used derogatory language against him mentioning his caste, and about the formation of the SC/ST employees welfare association.
Kamalakannan said he had approached the ADGP (Social Justice and Human Rights) who directed the Assistant Commissioner, Teynampet to investigate the matter. He had also approached other officials, but none had taken any action, forcing him to approach the court for a direction to register a complaint.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s judgement in Lalith Kumari case, Justice MS Ramesh directed the inspector of Egmore police station to conduct inquiry, and if found true, register a case.
“If it does not disclose the offence then the Commissioner of Police shall conduct a preliminary inquiry to ascertain whether cognizable offence is disclosed therein or not,” directed the court. The inquiry must be completed within seven days from the date of information. “If the preliminary inquiry ends in closing the complaint, the disclosure report must be recorded along with the reasoning, and a copy shall be furnished to the complainant within a week,” Justice Ramesh said in the order.
‘Only Government can ban liquor shops in residential areas’
Chennai: Reluctant to trespass on what it termed as the State government’s prerogative, the Madras High Court disposed of a petition that sought to bring residential buildings among the list of restricted locations like educational institutions and places of worship. Hearing a petition moved by G Kavitha Thirumugam seeking a direction from the court to include private residential buildings in the list of the places where liquor shops are prohibited for 100 metres, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar pointed out that the authority to frame legislation is vested with the government.
“It is not for the court to amend subordinate legislation” unless warranted, the bench said. As per Clause 8 of the TN Liquor Retail Vending Rules, 2003, no liquor shops were to be established in municipal corporations and municipalities within a distance of 50 meters and in other areas 100 meters from any place of worship or educational institutions.