Madras HC recalls Puducherry Law Secretary to T.N., move comes after controversy in appointment of law officers

Puducherry Law Secretary S. Karthikeyan, of the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Service, was on deputation to the Puducherry Law Department from April last year; the Registrar General of the Madras High Court has recommended a replacement for him

Amid the controversy over the appointment of lawyers from outside the Union Territory as law officers of the Puducherry government at the Madras High Court, the Registrar General of the High Court, P. Dhanabal, has communicated to Chief Secretary Rajeev Verma on Friday the Court’s decision to repatriate Law Secretary S. Karthikeyan to the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Service to be posted in Tamil Nadu.

Ever since Mr. Karthikeyan issued the order at the end of last month appointing the law officers, political parties including the DMK, AIADMK and CPI had hit out against the Law Secretary for including advocates from Tamil Nadu as the Government Pleader, Additional Government Pleaders and Government advocates in the High Court, sidestepping a list of lawyers that had been submitted by the Puducherry Chief Minister for appointment as law officers. The parties had blamed the Law Secretary for ignoring advocates from the Union Territory for these posts.

Mr. Dhanabal, in his communication to the Chief Secretary, had also recommended the appointment of G. Sendil Kumar, Member Secretary for the Union Territory of Puducherry Legal Services Authority, as Secretary to the Government of Puducherry, Law Department in the place of Mr. Karthikeyan. The appointment of Mr. Sendil Kumar, a local resident, would be on a deputation basis.

The Court has posted Mr. Karthikeyan as Presiding Officer, Additional Labour Court, Chennai. The Court has asked the government (Lt Governor) to issue necessary orders appointing Mr. Kumar as the new Law Secretary.

According to a senior official, the Court’s decision was only a routine matter as part of the transfer and postings of District Judges. Mr. Karthikeyan, a District Judge of the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Service, was on deputation to the Puducherry Law Department from April last year. The Court has only recalled the judicial officer to the parent department and recommended the posting another officer to the Law Department, he added.

The appointment of Law Secretaries is made after the government selects a person from the panel of judicial officers recommended by the High Court.

According to government sources, the recent appointment of law officers by Mr. Karthikeyan overlooking the list of lawyers submitted by the Chief Minister, had not gone down well with the Cabinet.