Principal case: Ethiraj College rapped for ignoring HC order

A division bench of justices Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice RMT Teekaa Raman, before whom the contempt petition filed by associate professor Girija Shyamsundar, one of the contenders for the principal’s post, came up, made it clear that if the August 22, 2017 order was not complied with by April 1, both the registrar and Muralidharan, will have to appear before it on April 02.

The matter relates to the appointment of Nirmala as the Principal by the Board of Trustees. 

This was challenged by Girija Shyamsundar and three other faculty members – V Shanthi, Chitra Venkatachalam and M Thilakavathi before the Madras High Court. 

Justice MM Sundresh who heard the petition set aside the appointment of Nirmala on January 07, 2015. Following this, the management moved an appeal and the division bench upheld the single judge’s order on August 22, 2017.

Challenging the above order, the management moved a special leave petition at the Supreme Court. This was also dismissed resulting in the HC order becoming final. 

But since the management failed to take any steps to change the principal, the petitioners moved the contempt petition.