Chennai (11.07.2025): Five IAS officers of the Tamil Nadu government appeared before the first bench of the Madras High Court led by Chief Justice KR Shriram on Thursday in connection with a contempt of court case and sought unconditional apology.

The court had pulled up the officials for disobeying its orders to relocate a school run by a Christian institution from a land belonging to the Devanatha Swamy Temple at Koothapakkam village in Cuddalore district.

As per an order of the court, the officers — P Amudha, who is presently Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue Department; S Madumathi, Secretary, Differently-Abled Welfare Department; B Chandra Mohan, Principal Secretary, School Education Department; P N Sridhar, Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Department; and Sibi Adithya Senthil Kumar (Cuddalore Collector) — along with two other officers of HR & CE Department appeared before the court on Thursday.

They apologised to the HC for failing to comply with the order to relocate St. Joseph Matriculation Higher Secondary School functioning at Koothapakkam from the temple land. The court accepted their submission.

A division bench in 2024 had granted six-month time to the HR&CE department to comply with another order to provide land to the school at an alternative site at Bhuvanagiri Taluk for shifting the institution. Alleging inaction, the petitioner filed the contempt plea.