Madras High Court initiates suo motu contempt against T.N. Chief Secretary Muruganandam, his predecessor Shiv Das Meena

The Madras High Court, on Friday (June 20, 2025), issued statutory notices to incumbent Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary N. Muruganandam and his predecessor Shiv Das Meena (thus retired) in suo motu contempt of court proceedings initiated against them and directed both of them to appear before the court on July 21.

Justice Battu Devanand passed the orders after being prima facie convinced that the two officials had failed to comply with an order passed by the court on September 19, 2023 in true letter and spirit and had attempted to show compliance only after the court directed the High Court Registry to register the suo motu contempt petition.

It was while disposing of a batch of three writ petitions in 2023 that Justice Devanand had directed the Chief Secretary to constitute a committee for recommending necessary amendments to the Tamil Nadu Civil Service (Appointment on Compassionate Grounds) Rules, 2023 since they suffered from various infirmities.

The judge had also ordered that the committee should consider the issue of fixing a time frame for providing compassionate employment to the dependants of government employees who die in service and consider the possibility of maintaining a district wise list of dependants eligible for compassionate appointment.

Then, the judge had also directed the Chief Secretary to file an action taken report before the court within three months. However, on June 5, 2025 while hearing another writ petition related to compassionate employment, the judge learnt that the Chief Secretary had not complied with the orders passed by him way back in 2023.

Therefore, he directed the High Court Registry to register a suo motu contempt of court petition against all officers who had held the post of Chief Secretary since September 19, 2023. Accordingly, the Registry registered the contempt petition against Mr. Meena and Mr. Muruganandam and listed it for admission on Friday.

The judge was informed that Mr. Meena had served as the Chief Secretary from September 2023 (when the court order was passed) till August 19, 2024 when he got appointed as the Chairperson of Tamil Nadu Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TNRERA) and that Mr. Muruganandam had been holding the post since then.

When the contempt petition was heard on Friday, Additional Advocate General M. Suresh Kumar submitted a Government Order issued on June 11, 2025 constituting a committee, as ordered by the High Court in 2023, for recommending amendments to the rules related to compassionate appointments.

However, expressing dissatisfaction over the G.O. having been issued only after the High Court ordered registration of the suo motu contempt petition, the judge decided to proceed with the matter and issued statutory notices to both the officers requiring their presence before the court after 30 days.