Thiruparankundram row: Madras HC directs Chief Secretary, ADGP L&O to appear at next hearing
MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary and Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) to appear before the court through video conference at the next hearing of the Thiruparankundram Karthigai Deepam row on December 17. Justice GR Swaminathan further issued statutory notice to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Madurai South) AG Inigo Divyan who reportedly stopped the petitioners from enforcing the order during the second day on December 4. At the request of the petitioners, the judge also impleaded Union Home Secretary in the case and issued notice to him, adding that based on the response of the chief secretary and ADGP, he may seek inputs from the Union Home Secretary. During the hearing, the senior counsels representing the state sought an adjournment by informing that the appeals against the main order are going to be heard by the division bench on Friday. Amid strong objections from the petitioners counsels to the said request, the judge pointed out that the petition was adjourned during the last hearing on December 5 for two reasons: the appeals filed by the state had been listed for hearing, and the state had informed that it has filed a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court challenging the dismissal of the Letters Patent Appeal (LPA) filed by it against an interim order passed in the above contempt petition on December 3. However, both reasons no longer hold good since the state has obtained any interim order in the appeals and the SLP was filed in a defective manner and is yet to be numbered, the judge observed. He also noted the submission of the senior counsel representing the city police commissioner that the state may even withdraw the SLP in view of the fact that the appeals were going to be heard on Friday and they do not want to raise the same issue on different fora. Moreover, the division bench, by dismissing the LPA, had confirmed the order passed by him for enforcing the main order, the judge cited and said, In these circumstances, pendency of the writ appeals without there being any interim order, cannot by itself operate as a stay. Upheld temple practices in Thiruparankundram: Minister S Regupathy He further recalled two more instances where the state machinery had failed to comply with his order in similar issues. The first one pertained to the states non-compliance of his order dated November 26 directing reinstallation of a Murugan statue which was removed from a hill in Kanniyakumari. The other was relating to non-lighting of Karthigai deepam on Mandu Karuppasamy temple in Perumal Kovilpatti village in Dindigul through a prohibitory order issued by the collector under 163 BNSS despite his order dated December 2. Separate contempt proceedings are pending in connection with the latter, he noted. I notice a definite pattern. I am certain that officials at the District Level would not dare to so brazenly defy the orders of this Court. Let me remind the officials concerned that their duty is to enforce the law and not go by dictates that are often issued orally. While the order of any administrative superior has to be complied with, this obligation does not extend to illegal orders, the judge said. I am not here to throw up my hands and helplessly cry O Father, Forgive Them, for they do not know what they are doing, he further observed and directed the chief secretary and ADGP to clarify their position in the matter.
23 C
