Evolve policy to cut pesky appeals: HC to TN

The Tamil Nadu government should evolve a litigation policy as has been done by the Centre to avoid vexatious appeals and wastage of the valuable time of courts, the Madras high court has said.

Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar, passing orders on a contempt of court petitions filed by M Uthandaraman and four others, also asked the court registry to communicate the order to the state chief secretary and the advocate-general for appropriate action. "This kind of condemnation could have been avoided if proper legal advice was obtained by the authorities," he said.

The judge made the observation after M Uthandaraman and four others filed the contempt pleas, stating that despite an order by the single judge of the court, directing the government to consider the five candidates for appointment as librarians in government colleges, the authorities wilfully failed to comply with the directive.

The contempt petitions were against K Ganesan, higher education secretary, and Nalini Ravindran, director of collegiate education, who, according to the petitioner, did not implement the high court order delivered in September 2008.

The five petitioners were working as assistants in various government colleges in the state. After acquiring additional qualifications and experience, they sought promotion as librarians in government colleges.

When the request was not considered, they filed writ petitions and a single judge on September 6, 2008 directed the authorities to consider the claim of the petitioners and pass appropriate orders within two months. As no appointment was made, they filed the contempt petition in April 2009.

In the meanwhile, the state government filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court to condone the delay in filing the appeal to quash the high court order.

The apex court, however, dismissed the petition and imposed a cost of `25,000 on the authorities, payable to the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority within four weeks.

The authorities were also asked by the apex court to implement the high court order within four weeks. Accordingly, the state government implemented the order by appointing the five petitioners as librarians in government colleges in September 2010. The case cost of `25,000 was also paid to the TNSLSA the same day.