Government employee gets back original post after six years

Chennai: A woman government employee who was demoted from the post of record clerk to office assistant, got a reprieve after six years with the Madras high court setting aside the order and directing the authorities to restore her to her original position.

Allowing a petition from V. Chandra, Justice S. Vaidyanathan also directed the principal secretary/commissioner of commercial taxes to treat the period of service in the reduced post as service in the post held by the petitioner prior to imposition of the punishment, subject to the condition that she shall not be entitled to any difference of salary for and during the period of reduction.

According to the petitioner, she was appointed as record clerk in the office of the deputy commercial tax officer, Nanguneri, in Tirunelveli district, in 1999. A charge memo was issued to her in October 2000 while she was working at the Puliyarai check-post, alleging that she had connived with other officials in the check-post in allowing vehicles carrying bonemeal to pass through the check-post without making entries in the movement register, thus allowing the dealers to evade tax.

After disciplinary proceedings and an enquiry, she was handed the punishment of reduction from the post of record clerk to office assistant.

The judge cited the precedent of the Supreme Court order in a similar case, the Nyadar Singh case, and upheld the case of Chandra.