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New Indian Express
21-05-2025
- New Indian Express
Madras HC orders reinstatement of employee of ordnance factory after 15 year battle
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered the reinstatement of an employee of the Ordnance Factory with lesser punishment almost 15 years after he was asked to take compulsory retirement on charges of doubtful integrity after finding him keeping in possession a computer floppy containing copies of official communications without any authorisation. A division bench of Justices MS Ramesh and N Senthilkumar passed the orders recently to reinstate K Saravanan, an upper division clerk employed with the Heavy Alloy Penetrative Project, Tiruchy, an arm of the Ordnance Factory Board. He was asked to go on compulsory retirement on July 26, 2011 by the management for violation of the Rule 11 of Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964. He approached the CAT against the order. The tribunal found that there was nothing to question the employee's integrity and the punishment was 'shockingly disproportionate and vindictive'. It set aside the order of compulsory retirement with the rider of a lesser punishment. During arguments in the high court, the management submitted that the Ordnance Factory is linked to national safety and the charges were serious. The bench reasoned, 'Even assuming that the photocopies were in the personal possession of the employee, no consequential prejudice was caused to the management, since he had not shared such official communications with any third person. In this view of the matter, both the charges can only be held to be minor in nature, which may not warrant the maximum penalty.' The bench ordered his reinstatement with a minor penalty within three months.


New Indian Express
14-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Madras HC asks special NIA court to comply with norms regarding appearance of accused, recalling NBWs
CHENNAI: Confronted frequently with petitions challenging the orders of the special court at Poonamallee dealing with bomb blast cases and cases filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Madras High Court, in a recent order, criticised the court for being 'insensitive' while dealing with petitions seeking to dispense with appearance of the accused during the trials and those for recalling non-bailable warrants (NBWs). It further issued orders to the special court on how to deal with such petitions as per settled propositions of law. A division bench of justices M S Ramesh and N Senthilkumar recently passed the orders on a criminal appeal petition filed by Mohammed Faruk, an accused in an NIA case, praying for setting aside the orders of the special court dismissing his plea filed under 317 of CrPC seeking dispensing with appearance of the accused and Section 70 (2) of CrPC for recalling the NBW issued against him. Referring to the special court's rejections of such petitions, the bench remarked that the court has been 'consistently demonstrating of being insensitive to all the settled propositions of law'.