HC pulls up principal secretary, flags ‘dishonest intent’ in shielding officer; seeks corrective action

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh high court at Gwalior has pulled up the principal secretary, general administration department (GAD), M Selvendran, observing that his actions in a disciplinary matter appeared aimed at shielding an erring officer from major penalty, and at one stage even termed his conduct as indicative of either "complete ignorance of law" or an attempt to "play fraud on the Court."Hearing MCC No. 278 of 2013 (State of MP vs Amar Singh & Others) on March 18, Justice G S Ahluwalia recorded that Selvendran, who appeared in person, admitted that after issuing a departmental charge-sheet and finding the officer's defence unsatisfactory, he dispensed with a full-fledged departmental enquiry and instead imposed a minor penalty of stoppage of one increment without cumulative effect.The court noted that Selvendran was fully aware that major penalties cannot be imposed without a proper departmental enquiry, and yet chose to convert the charge-sheet into a show-cause mechanism, effectively protecting the delinquent officer from harsher punishment. The judge observed that this conduct reflected a "dishonest intention to the extent of giving complete protection" to the erring official.During the hearing, Selvendran attempted to justify his actions under Rule 16 of the MP Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, claiming there was no mala fide intent. However, the court found his explanation unsatisfactory and further flagged his lack of awareness of Article 141 of the Constitution, which mandates that law declared by the Supreme Court is binding on all authorities.The court expressed concern that a senior officer of the rank of Principal Secretary was unaware of a Supreme Court ruling in State of MP Vs Ram Kumar Chaudhary (Nov 29, 2024), which mandates that delays caused by officials must be penalised with substantial punishment and not "eye wash" penalties. The judge noted that more than a year had passed since the ruling, yet no compliance or awareness was shown.In a significant development, Selvendran admitted before the court that his decision had the effect of granting a "clean chit" and protecting the officer from major penalty, and conceded that he had failed to consider the consequences of bypassing a departmental enquiry.While the court made strong observations, it stopped short of passing immediate strictures, granting Selvendran one final opportunity to correct his actions. The court directed him to place on record, within a week, the steps he proposes to take to rectify the situation and ensure that erring officers do not misuse procedural lapses to escape accountability.The High Court also cautioned that collusion between officials and private parties to secure dismissal of cases on technical grounds amounts to misuse of judicial orders as a shield to protect wrongdoing.The matter has been listed for further hearing on March 25, 2026 at 10:30 am, with directions to Selvendran to file an affidavit detailing corrective measures. His personal appearance has been exempted for the next hearing.