Madras High Court imposes cost of ₹1 lakh for filing PIL against appointment of senior IAS officers as T.N. govt. spokespersons

The Madras High Court on Thursday (August 7, 2025) dismissed, with costs of ₹1 lakh, a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by an advocate, challenging the appointment of senior IAS officers J. Radhakrishnan, Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Dheeraj Kumar, and P. Amudha as Tamil Nadu government’s official spokespersons.

First Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Sunder Mohan refused to entertain the PIL plea filed by advocate M. Sathya Kumar of Selaiyur in Chennai, at the admission stage itself, on finding that the appointment was made at the behest of the State government and not the ruling party.

The judges also observed that the appointment was not in violation of any law and there was no reason for the court to entertain a PIL petition against it. During the course of arguments, the petitioner’s counsel stated that the IAS officers should not be used for political functions, even indirectly.

He said, the appointment had been made merely by way of a press release and there was no reference to any Government Order having been issued in the name of the Governor approving the appointment of the four senior IAS officers as the official spokespersons of the government.

He also argued that there was no whisper as to whether the appointment was made after consultation with the Council of Ministers and insisted that the process should necessarily go through a constitutional test since it was the first time that the State government had appointed IAS officers as spokespersons.

Stating that there should not be an administrative overreach in making such appoinments, the counsel said, the intention behind the PIL petition was to ensure that IAS officers do not end up being used for promoting the achievements of the political party in power.