A public interest lawsuit contesting the recent appointment of four IAS officers as government press spokespersons was dismissed by the Madras High Court on August 7. The IAS officers were designated as the spokespersons for the state government, not the ruling party, according to the bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Sunder Mohan. The court was not inclined to consider the plea because it also pointed out that no laws had been broken at the time of the appointments. Advocate M Sathya Kumar of Selaiyur in Chennai had submitted the plea, which the court dismissed with costs of Rs. 1 lakh.
The petitioner’s lawyer said during the arguments that the IAS officers should not be exploited for political purposes, even in an indirect way. He said that the appointment had only been made through a press release and that no government order had been issued in the governor’s name authorising the four senior IAS officers to serve as the government’s official spokespersons.
The Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), Ministry for Tamil Development, Information, and Publicity, published Press Release No. 1602, which assigned the IAS officers to interact with the media and distribute public information. The officers were J Radhakrishnan (IAS:1992:TN), Gagandeep Singh Bedi (IAS:1993:TN), Dheeraj Kumar (IAS:1993:TN), and P Amudha (IPS:1994:TN).
The plea contested this release. According to the press release, each IAS officer is allocated to a different government department, and the officer is responsible for disseminating all official comments regarding significant accomplishments, plans, and advancements within the department in question.
The court was not convinced to accept Kumar’s argument that it was a political appointment. According to the court, the appointment was made solely for informational purposes and did not violate any laws.
Also Read: PIL filed in Madras HC against appointment of IAS officers as TN govt spokespersons
Also Read: Tamil Nadu appoints four senior IAS officers as official spokespersons
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