Chennai: “We are stranded in the middle of the road without an office to operate from,” said a petition submitted by Special Officer of Idol Wing, IG Pon Manickavel, in Madras High Court Monday, who expressed his displeasure over the working environment in his line of duty.
The petition was heard by Justices R Mahadevan and P D Adikesavulu, who make up the special bench constituted to hear idol theft cases.
Pon Manickavel in his petition complained that higher officials have refused to allot him an office to work from at Guindy inspite of Court order.
“Police officers are not cooperating with me in the investigations. They are making people who have an opposing mindset to register complaints against me,” said Manickavel who was former chief and now the newly-appointed Special Officer of the Idol Wing.
A petitioner in the idol theft cases, Ranjarajan Narasiman, and advocate Elephant G Rajendran also made similar submissions that the office in Guindy was either locked or the investigation officer was not available, every time they went to file a complaint.
Following this, the two-judge bench observed that Manickavel was appointed as a Special Officer by them and admonished the Tamilnadu government for not following the Court orders.
Taking serious note of the government itself flouting Court orders, the bench said that Manickavel was appointed as a Special Officer by the Court and anyone who is refusing to cooperate with the investigation would be suspended immediately.
The Court said that if need be, they would summon Chief Secretary Girija Vaidhyanathan to appear in Court in person to answer for this.