Chennai: The Madras High Court stayed the disciplinary proceedings initiated by Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Secretary against a woman employee who alleged that she has been victimised for not yielding to his “untoward advances”.
Justice M Sathyanarayanan “this court, upon hearing the submissions made on both sides and on perusal of the materials available on record, is of the view that a prima facie is made out for grant of interim order.”
The woman, a reporter of the Assembly Secretariat, in her petition, alleged that A M P Jamaludeen, Secretary of the Legislative Assembly Secretariat, had made “untoward advances against her, which she declined.
She submitted that she had availed leave for a foreign trip for taking her mother for medical treatment and had taken loan from her General Provident Fund to finance the trip.
For “declining” to his “untoward advances”, he called her to his chambers and issued a charge memo on May 22 and an additional charge memo on September 22, stating that she had not obtained permission to move away from the headquarters and had not informed her leave address and she had not been relieved from her secretariat duties, she submitted.
She contended that the competent authorities were fully aware of her leave application and other explanations but still proceeded with the inquiry.
The counsel for Jamaludeen denied all the charges.
She prayed for the quashing of the charge memo and disciplinary proceedings against her.