Aishwarya Rathore-
Published On: October 13, 2021 at 12:56 IST
The Madras High Court affirmed an Order of a Single Judge upholding the Show Cause Notices issued to thousands of staff members of the Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu to downgrade their salaries.
The Bench of Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and Krishnan Ramaswamy upheld the Order dated March 5, 2019 of the Single Judge while dismissing a batch of over 400 Writ Petitions.
The Bench stated, “This Court is unable to find any traces of premeditated mind on the part of the University from the reading of the notices, which are mere notices affording opportunity to the Appellants to respond to the proposal contained in them.”
The Judges further stated, “For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any error in the orders of the single judge, which are impugned in these Writ appeals, as there is no merit in these appeals and accordingly, these appeals are dismissed as devoid of merits.”
In response to the Government’s proposal to take over Annamalai University in Chidambaram, Cuddalore District, and a Resolution dated February 8, 2017, all Varsity employees were served with Notices asking them to explain why their pay scales should not be downgraded.
The Appellants contested the Syndicate’s February 2017 Resolution and the Higher Education Department’s subsequent Show Cause Notices dated August 13, 2018.
By the March 2019 common order, the Single Judge had dismissed the Writ Petitions.
Considering the fact that the issue is pending at the Show Cause Notice stage itself for years, the Madras High Court directed the Appellants to submit their reply within two weeks.
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