Contempt petition on Tamil Nadu government 'disobeying' Madras HC orders dismissed

The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a contempt petition filed by 'Traffic' Ramaswamy alleging Tamil Nadu government had disobeyed its orders on providing infrastructure to IAS officer U Sagayam appointed as Special Officer/ Legal Commissioner to inspect illegal granite mining in the state.

The First Bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sathyanarayanan, before which the petition came up, closed it saying it has become infructous after recording the submission of the government that they had already instructed the Madurai Collector by a November 5 order to provide all infrastructore to Sagayam.

During the arguments, Government Pleader STS Moorthy submitted the copy of the GO, which noted that allotment of officers had been made and the Collector informed to provide suitable accommodation with all infrastructure, as requested by Sagayam.

The Collector was also requested to send a proposal for allotment of funds to the government for meeting the expenses. To another query by the counsel for Ramaswamy on the area to which Sagayam's inquiry has been restricted, the bench directed that necessary application in the main writ proceedings may be moved.

The petitioner had alleged that the inspection by Sagayam was restricted to only mines in Madurai range.