The Madras High Court on Thursday, April 18, 2024, disposed of a writ petition filed against Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) public relations officer S.M. Dhivahar, after it was represented on behalf of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) that necessary action would be taken on the basis of a complaint received against him.
Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice J. Sathya Narayana Prasad recorded the submission of ECI standing counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan that the CMDA PRO was not on election duty and therefore the complaint of him having violated the model code of conduct, by emailing Minister P.K. Sekarbabu’s political speech to the media, would not arise.
It would be up to his employer to take action if he had violated the service conduct rules by sharing the speech delivered by the Minister at a political meeting organised by DMK’s North Chennai parliamentary constituency candidate Kalanithi Veerasamy, on March 29, 2024. Nevertheless, since the writ petitioner had made a complaint to the ECI, it would be dealt with appropriately, the counsel said.
Tirunelveli-based advocate S. Veilumuthu had filed the writ petition seeking appropriate action on his complaints against the CMDA PRO to the ECI and the CEO on April 2 and April 6 respectively.
