HC imposes fine on Anna varsity Registrar on contempt plea

The Madras High Court has imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 on the Registrar of Anna University on a contempt petition filed in connection with the appointment of a faculty for the post of Professor.

Justice S Nagamuthu gave the directive on the petition filed by S Chandra Mohan against the Registrar of Anna University, S Ganesan for allegedly not complying with the Court's earlier order to appoint him as professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) under the vacancy earmarked for SC (Arunthathiyar).

The Court had directed the Registrar to issue the order of appointment of the petitioner, as professor within four weeks from the date of receipt of its order dated June 13, 2014.
 

Subsequently, the state government had moved the High Court challenging its order which was dismissed, following which it approached the Supreme Court, which also dismissed its appeal on March 18 last year.

When the matter came up yesterday, the Additional Advocate General appearing for the Registrar submitted that Dr Chandramohan was promoted as professor in the Department of EEE with effect from June 25, 2012.

In response, the petitioner alleged that though the Registrar had issued an order promoting him as professor, it is yet to be approved by the Syndicate of the University and thus he has not been extended the monetary benefits and other service benefits for the post.

Recording the submissions, the judge said, "This would clearly show that there has been no compliance with the order of this Court dated June 13,2014."

Though almost over two years have passed, it is not explained as to why the order has not been complied with, he observed.

Imposing the penalty, the judge said, "The respondent has dragged on the matter to the extent possible by simply disobeying the order of this Court" and imposed Rs 3000 as fine on the respondent.

The fine should be paid within a period of seven days from March 16. "In case the contemnor fails to comply, he shall undergo simple imprisonment for 15 days," the judge said and posted the matter to March 22 for compliance.