CHENNAI: The Collector of Tiruvallur district has been directed by the Madras High Court to see to it that one N Loganathan, former president of Nandhimangalam village panchayat, does not meddle with any civic or property issues. The Collector shall issue circulars to other government authorities, relevant panchayat officials, both, in English and in Tamil for their knowledge, awareness and guidance in future, said a division bench of Justices M Venugopal and S Vaidyanathan on Friday.
The bench was closing a contempt application seeking to punish Collector E Sundaravalli, Panchayat Assistant Director R Sreedhar and Poondi BDO (P) S G Krishnan for not implementing the court’s earlier order dated January 3, 2018, relating to a building owned by BDO Krishnan.
During the course of hearing, the judges were told that the unauthorised portion of the building in question, had already been demolished. The bench also came to know that Loganathan, in his capacity as the then president of the Panchayat, had ordered the demolition of the entire building of Krishnan in October 2015, at the instigation of one Ravammal, who happened to be his mother-in-law.
Being the son-in-law of the woman, he should have recused himself from passing any such order, in all fairness. No one should be a judge of his own cause. It is a clear case of colourable exercise of power, the judges said, and held that he should not be permitted to occupy anysuch covertly service-oriented and responsible post or any other post in future for the welfare of the public at large.