HC stays dismissal order passed against 25 Aavin employees

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday passed an interim stay against the order passed by the State government dismissing 25 employees associated with the state-run Aavin milk booths.

Justice Abdul Quddhose passed the direction on hearing a batch of petitions filed by D Elumalai, A Agalya, Karthik, and 23 others.

The petitioners challenged the order passed by the general manager of Milk Production, Tamil Nadu dismissing the employees on the ground that the petitioners were employed illegally by paying bribes to several people in the AIADMK regime.

The petitioners argued that they were legally appointed by Tamil Nadu Milk Cooperative societies and Aavin authorities as they were eligible for those posts. The respondents have issued the dismissal order without hearing the employees who were appointed in several parts of the state, according to the counsel for the petitioners.

Recording the submissions, the judge held that how the employees could be sacked without issuing show cause notice to know their explanation. The judge further passed an interim stay against the order passed by the government and asked the Aavin management to file its response within three weeks.

The case of the petitioners was that they were the employees of Milk Producers Cooperative Society's Chennai, Trichy, Kancheepuram – Tiruvallur, Madurai, Thanjavur, Namakkal, Tirupur, Theni, and Virudhunagar zones. The Aavin vigilance committee and the district milk producers cooperative society's registrars conducted an inquiry and came to the conclusion that about 236 employees were appointed illegally. While 236 employees were dismissed from the service, disciplinary proceedings were initiated against 26 authorities for executing these illegal recruitment.