Chennai, Sep 30 (PTI) The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Puducherry government to place under suspension, a government official for his alleged involvement in sexual harassment of a woman veterinarian, as he was slated to retire on September 30.

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The court directed the government to suspend Dr P Padmanaban, secretary of PONCARE, related to the welfare of aged persons and formerly the Joint Director of Department of Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare, in connection with the a complaint dating to 2018.

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Justice C Saravanan, who gave the direction, also restrained the Chief Secretary and the Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare department secretary from disbursing any of the terminal benefits of Padmanaban, other than death- cum-retirement gratuity (DCRG).

The judge was passing interim orders on the writ petitions from a woman veterinary Assistant Surgeon, Veterinary Dispensary in Sivaranthagam in the UT, who had made the sexual harassment charges at work place against Padmanaban.

"The petitioner has made out a prima facie case for interim relief as prayed for. If the fifth respondent (Dr Padmanaban) is allowed to retire on September 30 (Thursday), the entire proceedings initiated by the petitioner so far will be rendered nugatory. The balance of convenience is overwhelmingly for grant of interim relief."

"The first and second respondents (Puducherry chief secretary and the secretary of Animal Husbandry department) are therefore restrained from retiring the fifth respondent from service on 30.09.2021 in view of the incomplete proceeding under the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. The first and second respondents shall therefore place the fifth respondent under suspension till the final outcome of the proceedings under Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and further order of this Court," the judge said.

The court also issued an order of interim injunction restraining the first and second respondents from disbursing any of the terminal benefits to him other than DCRG, the judge added.

The petitioner sought to quash the proceedings on the file of the District Local Complaints Committee (DLCC) under the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, containing the findings of the enquiry and consequently direct the District Collector to reconstitute a gender sensitive DLCC without certain members to conduct a fresh enquiry on her complaint dated March 31, 2018.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)