Chennai: Raising concern over the failure of top officials in implementing court orders, Justice Battu Devanand on Monday remarked, “If a chief secretary does not obey court orders, who else will obey?” The judge made this observation during a suo motu contempt proceeding against former chief secretary (CS) Shiv Das Meena and incumbent chief secretary N Muruganandam for failing to implement a 2023 court order.The 2023 order directed the chief secretary to constitute an expert committee to recommend necessary amendments to the Tamil Nadu Civil Service (Appointment on Compassionate Grounds) Rules, 2023, as the existing provisions suffered from various infirmities. This was to be done within two months.“Because they are higher officials, they do not have any regard for the orders passed by the court. If the chief secretary himself is not following the court orders, how can we expect officers serving under him to follow the order in a timely manner,” the judge questioned. It was embarrassing for the court to initiate suo motu proceedings against high-ranking officials, the judge added.During course of the hearing, the court directed the appearance of both Siva Das Meena and Muruganandam to explain their actions in not implementing the order. On Monday, the court was informed that the committee has been constituted and steps have been taken to maintain a seniority list of persons eligible for appointment under compassionate grounds.Recording the submissions, the court observed that had the former chief secretary taken steps to implement the order at that time, the incumbent officer would not have been summoned to the court. The judge added that even in one of his previous orders pronounced two years ago, he appreciated the former chief secretary for issuing a circular to all his subordinates to promptly implement court orders.The court then directed the authorities to produce a copy of the amendments made to the rules to the high court registry in two weeks and closed the contempt petition.
