MADURAI: The Madurai bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday awarded senior IAS officer Pradeep Yadav and two other officials two weeks of simple imprisonment for failing to comply with a 2012 order of the court. Yadav, currently additional chief secretary in the highways and minor ports department, was the school education secretary at the time.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on Yadav, the then director of teacher education research and training in Chennai, Muthupalanichamy and the then principal of Tirunelveli district institute of Education and training Boobala Anto.
“If any lenient view is taken against such type of officers, who are not implementing court orders, years together, and implementing the orders only after directing their appearance before the court, it will send a wrong message to such type of government officers,” the court said. The court also directed the three officials to surrender before the registrar (judicial) of the Bench by August 9, for taking further action in accordance with the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, and other rules.
Justice Battu Devanand passed the order in a contempt petition filed by P Gnana Pragasam (74) to punish the officials for their deliberate and willful disobedience of the court order passed in December 2012.
The court in 2012 directed the officials to regularise the service of the petitioner, who was a sweeper-cum-gardener employed at a teacher training institution, and extend monetary benefits to him by passing suitable orders within a period of eight weeks.
The court said the respondents had not regularised the service immediately. The court said it had no hesitation in holding that the respondents did not comply with the order in true letter and spirit till July 20, 2023. The senior counsel, appearing for the respondents, submitted that they have tendered their unconditional apology for the delay. The court declined to accept the apology, in view of the facts of the case and by observing the conduct of the respondents.
The petitioner, Gnana Pragasam, was employed as a sweeper-cum-gardener in a teacher training institute in Palayapettai. After putting in a total service of 40 years and five months, he retired on June 30, 2006.
Though the state government issued a G.O. in 1971, stating that all contingent employees who had completed five years of service should be regularised, the G.O. was not implemented uniformly across all departments and institutions.
While the initial proposal sent by the institute to regularise him was rejected by the government, his petition was allowed on December 3, 2012, the court directed the government to regularise the petitioner. But even after a lapse of several years, the authorities had not complied with the order, following which the petitioner moved a contempt petition in 2020.