Chennai: The Madras high court has ordered notice to Thiruvarur district collector and 3 others on the petitions, which sought to quash the appointment of three persons to the post of panchyat secretary of Nunakadu village panchayat, Maruthavanam village panchayat and Edaiyur village panchayat in Thiruvarur district, allegedly on the recommendation of minister for food and civil supplies R.Kamaraj.
Making it clear that “any appointment pursuant to the impugned orders will be subject to the result of the writ petitions, Justice R.Mahadevan posted after four weeks, the petitions filed by M.Gomathi, V.Jayaraj and M.Megala.
In her petition, Gomathi sought to declare as illegal, an order of the Special Officer/Block Development Officer (village panchayat), Thiruthuraipoondi region, dated November 2, 2018, appo-inting Dhinesh as the panchayat secretary of Nunakadu village panchayat.
In his petition, Jayaraj sought to quash an order of the Special Officer/Block Development Officer (village panchayat), Muthupet region, dated November 2, 2018, appointing Avinash as the panchayat secretary of Maruthavanam village panchayat. In her petition, Megala sought to quash an order of the Special Officer/Block Development Officer (Village Panchayat), Muthupet region, dated November 2, 2018, appointing S.Jayasree as the Panchayat secretary of Edaiyur Village Panchayat.
According to Jayaraj, he belong to Scheduled Caste community and has completed B.A degree. He has registered his educational qualification with the employment exchange. He has been serving as a field organizer under the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme with the Maruthavanam village panchayat since 2011, he added.
He said during 2011 disciplinary action was initiated against the then panchayat secretary Senthil Kumar. Therefore, the works were assigned to one R. Shanmugam. The said Shanmugam was looking after three Panchayats. Therefore, he could not discharge his duties as the panchayat secretary of Maruthavanam Village Panchayat. Hence, the then president of the Maruthavanam Vilage Panchayat had appointed him as Panchayat clerk, which was purely based on merits, he added.
He said thereafter, he has been doing all works of the Panchayat for a meager salary of Rs 600 till November 7, 2018. He has rendered 7 years of service with the Maruthavanam Village Panchayat as a field supervisor under the NREG scheme, OHT operator and Panchayat secretary. In these circumstances, the Special Officer had issued a notification calling for the application to the post of Panchayat secretary. He applied for the same and attended the interview.
The Grama Sabha also passed a resolution assuring that he was the fit person to hold the post of Panchayat secretary. At this juncture, he came to know that Minister Kamaraj has directed all the appointing authorities to provide appointment to the persons recommended by him alone. Without following any procedure established by law and without considering his long period of service as Panchayat secretary, the Special Officer passed the impugned order, appointing Avinash as the panchayat secretary, he added. Almost on similar grounds, Gomathi and Megala fild their petitions.
