Warrant against Collegiate Education director for failing to appear at court

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court issued a warrant for the Director of Collegiate Education on November 21 for failing to appear in person in a contempt of court case.

In 2022, the High Court had ordered the Director of Collegiate Education and the Registrar of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli, to approve the appointment of Dr L Phadmaja as a lecturer in the Physics department at Nesamani Memorial Christian College, in Kanniyakumari's Marthandam and to provide her with due salary and benefits.

Alleging that the authorities failed to implement the court’s order within the four-week deadline, Phadmaja filed a contempt petition in December 2022 against Higher Education secretary D Karthikeyan, Collegiate Education director M Easwaramoorthy, and University registrar J Sacratees.

Despite being directed to appear in person and explain, the Director failed to do so. Hearing the case, Justice MS Ramesh observed that not implementing the court order for more than three and a half years and disobeying the order to appear in person was not only unfortunate but also amounted to contempt of court.

Hence, the judge issued a bailable warrant to secure the appearance of the Director of Collegiate Education on November 21.

The judge also directed the Director to explain why he should not be punished for deliberately failing to comply with the court's order. The High Court Registry was instructed to send a copy of the order to the Chennai police commissioner for execution of the warrant, and the case was adjourned to November 21.