T.N. government orders inquiry into charge of prison staff being used for household work

Tamil Nadu government orders inquiry into prison officials using uniformed personnel for personal work at residences.

The Tamil Nadu government has instructed the Director General of Police/Head of Police Force to conduct an elaborate inquiry to identify top prison officials who had engaged uniformed personnel either for performing household work or for other personal work in their residences.

A Government Order (G.O.) issued on November 22, 2024 had asked the DGP/HoPF to conduct the inquiry either with the assistance of Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) or through the intelligence wing as directed by the Madras High Court on November 6, 2024.

The G.O. issued by Home Secretary Dheeraj Kumar sought for a detailed report from the DGP/HoPF Shankar Jiwal “so as to initiate appropriate action against the erring prison officials.” It was also followed by a letter written by the Home Secretary to the Director General of Prisons and Correctional Services on the same day.

The letter referred to the orders passed by the Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and M. Jothiraman against the practice of engaging uniformed personnel for personal work of top officials and the consequent G.O. issued by the government instructing the DGP/HoPF to conduct a detailed inquiry.

“I am directed to request you to ensure that the orderly system, if any, continuing in any office of the prison deaprtment, be stopped forthwith and direct to withdraw all the uniformed prison personnel who have been engaged to carry out residential works of the prison officials, including retired officials,” the letter read.

The High Court had taken note of the issue during the hearing of a writ petition by V. Sujatha of Tirunelveli. The petitioner’s counsel M. Radhakrishnan and P. Pugalenthi had brought it to the notice of the court that most prison warders get deployed for performing personal work at the residences of higher officials.

Consequently, there was a dearth of staff to keep a watch over the inmates leading to frequent quarrels and scuffle between them, the counsel complained and said that the situation was no better even in the Puzhal Central Prison which was one of the largest prisons in the State.