Withhold salary to Revenue Secy. and Collector, HC tells State govt.
‘They should get paid only after they disburse rental arrears for Taluk office’
In an unusual order, the Madras High Court has directed the State government not to pay the Revenue Secretary, the Tiruvallur Collector and the Madhavaram Tahsildar their salary until they disburse the rental arrears for the Madhavaram Taluk office and enter into a lease agreement with the landlord.
Justice S. Vaidyanathan directed the High Court Registry to ensure that a copy of his order reaches the Chief Secretary by Wednesday, since the payment of salary to government servants is due on Thursday in view of the subsequent bank holidays from Friday to Monday on account of Ayudha Puja and Gandhi Jayanti.
Disposing of a writ petition filed by 67-year-old Farida Shaukath, the judge said that the State government officials had ‘grabbed’ her immovable property in 2009 for establishing a Taluk office, and had been occupying it since then, without entering into a lease deed and paying the rent properly.
According to the petitioner, the officials had occupied the property after agreeing to pay a monthly rent of Rs. 1.2 lakh, besides promising to enter into a lease agreement in due course.
She accused the officers of subsequently going back on their commitment and disputing the agreed quantum of rent.
Official apathy
Stating that the Revenue department officials had cited a report by the Public Works department, which had fixed the rent at Rs. 98,925 a month, Ms. Shaukath said that even that amount was not being paid, forcing her to file the case in 2012. The rent, up to May 2016, was paid only after the court passed interim orders.
Taking a serious note of the official apathy towards the landlord, and her being made to run from pillar to post to establish her right, the judge said that the actions of the officials of not entering into a lease agreement till date and not paying arrears of rent since May 2016 were nothing but ‘perfunctory’.
30-day deadline
Ordering that the arrears should be paid and that the lease agreement should be signed within 30 days, Justice Vaidyanathan said, “Till such time... all the three respondents shall not draw any salary and the government shall not disburse their salary to them. After clearing of the arrears of rent and after entering into the lease agreement, as directed above, the entire salary, including the salary arrears, shall be disbursed to the respondents.”
“This court makes it clear that the person who is holding the post in the cadre of the first respondent (Revenue Secretary) should ensure that the subordinates do their work assigned to them promptly, and if any issue arises, the same is brought to the attention of the first respondent by them, pursuant to which, the concerned staff (sic) should be shown the door and the Chief Secretary to the Government of the State of Tamil Nadu shall take necessary steps in that regard,” the judge added.
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