CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary N. Muruganandam and his predecessor Shiv Das Meena to appear before the court on July 21, 2025 in connection with a suo motu contempt of court case. The case was initiated over alleged non-compliance with the court’s 2023 directives regarding appointments on compassionate grounds.
Justice Battu Devanand, who presided over the hearing on Friday, ordered that statutory notices be issued to both officers.
“Issue statutory notice to the respondents for their personal appearance (in the court) on July 21, 2025,” stated the judge in his order.
The judge observed that the 2023 order issued by the court had "not been complied with in true letter and spirit," necessitating the issuance of statutory notices to the concerned officers.
Representing the officers, Additional Advocate General M. Suresh Kumar submitted that the government had issued a Government Order (GO) on June 11, 2025 to form a committee to address issues related to compassionate appointments for legal heirs of government employees who died while in service. He added that a web portal had also been launched to facilitate a single-window system for processing such applications, in line with the court’s directions.
However, Justice Devanand expressed dissatisfaction with the state’s response, noting that these steps were taken only after the initiation of suo motu contempt proceedings.
On June 6, 2025, the judge had ordered the initiation of contempt proceedings after finding that the directives issued in 2023 including the formation of a committee and recommending amendments to the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (Appointment on Compassionate Grounds) Rules, 2023 to fix a time frame had not been implemented.
The court has now mandated the personal appearance of both the current and former Chief Secretaries to address the alleged failure to act on these judicial instructions.