Golf Club case: HC reprimands Revenue Secy for contempt

Kochi, Aug 13 (UNI) Kerala High Court today strongly reprimanded State Revenue Principal Secretary Nivedita P Haran for committing contempt of court in connection with the State Government's takeover of the Trivandrum Golf Club.

Justice S Sirijagan, however, dropped proceedings against Ms Haran, reminding her that another of her indiscretion ''may not qualify for the same benevolence'.

The Judge observed that ''Ms Haran had approached the court without clean hands and she tried to mislead the High Court on the matter with half-truths.'' ''If she did so out of her loyalty to the Revenue Minister, it was definitely appreciable but that should not be at the expense of her duty towards the court and Advocate-General,'' he added.

Ms Haran's duty was to advise the Minister, who had little knowledge of the matter, and she wanted to be more loyal than the King. She was too shortsighted to see that even if it was directed by the Minister, she had to shoulder the blame for the action,'' the Judge said.

''The officer, who doesn't have the courage of conviction to tell the Minister that he was wrong, is a bane to civil service,'' the Judge observed.

If the government secretaries had the courage of conviction to stand up to the higher ups, our state would have a better administered machinery, the Judge noted.

UNI XR MA RSA HT1938