Home secretary impleaded in appointments case

Times of India: Madurai: Friday, 17 April 2015.

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Thursday impleaded Tamil Nadu home secretary (courts) in a case relating to furnishing information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act on the appointment of 23 district judges in the state in 2013.

The court directed the government side to produce the police reports and application forms of the appointed judges before it.

In his petition, Madurai-based K Kathiresan said he submitted an application to the Madras high court registrar (administration), who is the public information officer (PIO), on November 25 last year seeking the copies of application forms and police verification reports of the 23 district judges (entry level) who were appointed in 2013. However, information was not been provided to him even though he had followed the right appeal process before the first and second appellate authorities, the petitioner said.

Meanwhile, Kathiresan filed a miscellaneous petition in the court on Thursday seeking the court's intervention to implead secretary general of the Supreme Court in the case.

He stated that the antecedents of the persons who have been appointed as district judges have to be made public in order to prove that the public posts are filled with by the competent and eligible persons of high integrity and honesty.

Hence, information with regard to it was sought, but is denied by the public information officer of the Madras high court, which is against the RTI Act. Thus, it is necessary to implead the secretary general of the Supreme Court who is the supervisory head as a party to decide the case. Following it, the court suo motu impleaded the home secretary (courts) in the case and adjourned the matter.