Madras HC judge complained over lunch, got court staffer suspended

The incident took place during Justice Subramaniam’s private visit to the temple town of Kumbakonam.

According to top sources in judiciary, the suspension order was issued by the Thanjavur principal district judge after Justice Subramaniam asked him to take severe action.

The suspension order against junior bailiff G Manikandan was revoked on January 5, 2022, citing “administrative convenience.” The order said suspension was revoked “pending disciplinary proceedings”, and that Manikandan “is reinstated into service.”

Justice Subramaniam told The Indian Express over the phone: “I always pay for my food. That day, I asked the staff to buy food from a decent vegetarian restaurant. After I noticed these problems, I reported to the district judge. He conducted an inquiry, and action was taken.”

Justice Subramaniam said the government accommodation where he was served food was “an unhygienic old building with an ugly toilet.” With maintenance work under way at the main block of the government guesthouse, he said he was served food in an open hall of the old building.

“Other government facilities were all occupied. After they brought the food, there was a table in the uncleaned hall, where they started opening it,” Justice Subramaniam. “They opened curry packets in an unhygienic manner, served them in the same plastic covers. Since they did not remove [the] rubber bands, the rubber bands fell in the food.”

The suspension order against Manikandan, issued last December, stated that he had “failed to provide proper lunch to His Lordship with due care as instructed by His Lordship, and thereby violated Rule 20 (Integration and Devotion to duty) of Tamil Nadu Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1973.”

According to sources with knowledge of the incident, Justice Subramaniam had visited Kumbakonam with his family on December 26, 2021. A senior jurist said, “He asked the junior court staffer, who was on duty as per protocol, to get vegetarian lunch from a hotel, prepared in a traditional way. There are no such hotels, as he insisted, in Kumbakonam these days…there are many popular vegetarian restaurant chains. So the court staff bought the lunch from the best vegetarian restaurant in town and brought it.”

An upset Justice Subramaniam subsequently raised the issue with the district judge and “demanded severe action”, the jurist said.

The district judge immediately placed Manikandan under suspension. The suspension order added that the court staffer “shall not leave the headquarters (Thanjavur) without obtaining prior permission of the authority concerned.”

Hearing a petition filed by an officer, who had challenged a police department order on vacating official residential quarters, Justice Subramaniam, in his order on August 12, had reminded that “no public servant can imagine or live in a world of Mughal emperors and all such authorities under the Constitution are ‘public servants’ and they are bound to serve the public in accordance with the principles laid down in the Constitution and as per Statutes and Rules enacted by Parliament and the State Legislature.”

The order stated, “…it is needless to state that indisciplined higher police officials lose their morale in enforcing discipline in uniformed forces, more so, against their subordinate officials.”

While sources said at least 1,000 police constables are deployed as orderlies across the state for only the senior officers of Tamil Nadu Police, and even retired officers, senior advocates of Madras HC told The Indian Express that the judiciary is no exception — only the orderly system works in a “different” way. According to these advocates, a sitting judge is entitled to four police personnel and a Sub Inspector-rank officer with pistol; they also have three domestic helps, two office assistants each at home and office. And in many instances, advocates said, these security personnel and office assistants do orderly jobs — “just like in police service”.

Justice Subramaniam agreed that the orderly system exists in judiciary, too. “All I can say is, I don’t use my judicial staff for cooking food. My staff come at 9 am and leave at 4 pm; my wife cooks at home,” he said.