"Judicial officers, staff, advocates worked in tandem to destroy institution from the inside:" Madras High Court directs Police enquiry

A case that had started off as a writ petition challenging the appointment of a Registrar (Vigilance) at the Madras High Court has brought to the surface serious concerns that there are persons working to "destroy the institution" from within (High Court of Madras v. B Sathish Kumar). .A Bench of Justices PN Prakash and V Sivagnanam, after perusing a report filed by the High Court's Vigilance unit, noted that there appeared to be judicial officers, staff members and advocates working in tandem to destroy the institution. ."We prima facie find the names of judicial officers, staff members, advocates et al having worked in tandem to destroy this institution from inside. Therefore, we cannot allow this matter to rest at ease.".The matter is tied to a quo warranto writ petition filed by a lawyer, advocate, B Sathish Kumar in 2020, wherein he alleged that the High Court's Registrar (Vigilance) did not have the educational qualification to occupy the post. But the Bench of Justices Prakash and Sivagnanam put it differently. ."It is common knowledge that in the last two and a half years, the Vigilance Committee has been taking serious action against delinquent judicial officers and staff members, which has earned for Ms. R Poornima, the wrath of vested interests, who are yearning for her scalp.".A Bench of the then Chief Justice AP Sahi and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy had dismissed Sathishkumar's writ petition with exemplary costs. of Rs 5 lakh in October last year, while also directing that appropriate administrative action be taken to ward off such attacks to the institution.."Too much of curiosity kills the cat": Madras HC slaps Rs 5L costs, initiates contempt against lawyer for false claims against HC Registrar .The enquiry report in the matter was submitted to the Chief Justice, who in turn directed that the report be placed before the Bench of Justices Prakash and Sivagnanam, which is also dealing with contempt proceedings against advocate Sathish Kumar. .In the course of the contempt proceedings, advocate Kumar alleged that he had acted on the behest of another advocate, U Vasudevan. Therefore, advocate Vasudevan was also impleaded in the contempt proceedings pending before the Bench. Both advocates, thereafter, filed affidavits trading allegations over who is to blame for filing the writ petition. ."While that being so, we carefully scrutinised the materials gathered by the vigilance detachment unit of the High Court and we are shocked to find that the matter is not as simple as what it appears to be", the Court narrated. .In view of the apparent involvement of various persons within the court system in the matter, the Court has now proceeded to entrust further inquiry into the case by G Nagajothi, IPS, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Central Crime Branch-I. .The DCP has been tasked with investigating the circumstances in which the writ petition in question was filed, and who were behind the filing of the writ petition "be them judicial officers, staff members, advocates or anyone else." .In the interest of impartiality, the Court also directed the transfer of the case file from the office of the Registrar (Vigilance) to the file of S Ganapathisamy, Officer on Special Duty, Recruitment Cell, High Court, Madras. S Ganapathisamy has been appointed the nodal officer for the case. .The Court further ordered that the enquiry report submitted by the Court's vigilance unit be handed over to Ganapathisamy, who would forward it to the DCP. The Court added that DCP G Nagajothi, IPS would directly report to Ganapathisamy and shall submit a report to the Court within two weeks, in sealed cover."Every organ of the State shall render its best assistance to Ms. G Nagajothi, IPS, who shall have the powers of an Investigating Officer under Chapter-XII of CrPC, sans arrest", the Court said. .The Bench also told the State not to relieve G Nagajothi, IPS from her present duties until the completion of the enquiry entrusted to her by the Court. .The matter will be taken up next on March 23. .[Read Order]