By Mohamed Imranullah S

Copyright thehindu

The Madras High Court, on Friday (September 19, 2025), refused to extend its September 9 interim order suspending the constitution of a one-man commission to probe alleged police excesses while quelling the recent protests by the conservancy workers of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC). The court insisted that the commission should commence the fact-finding exercise at the earliest.

The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan said the one-man commission constituted by another Division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramesh and V. Lakshminarayanan on September 2 must begin the exercise of finding out the truth behind the allegations and counter allegations levelled by the police and the protesters against each other.

“Why are you afraid of the commission? It will only help you in bringing out the truth,” the Chief Justice told the law officers when they argued against its constitution. He also took strong exception to an alternate request for appointing a judge from another State to head the commission. “Mr. Counsel, what kind of submission is this? We will record in our order that the State has no faith in the retired judges of this court,” he said.

The commission, to be headed by V. Parthiban, a retired judge of the Madras High Court, was constituted by the Bench led by Justice Ramesh while hearing a habeas corpus petition (HCP) filed by advocate S. Vijay alleging illegal arrest and harassment of a group of lawyers and law students, who had provided legal assistance to the conservancy workers, by the police.

Subsequently, when the habeas corpus portfolio got shifted to a Division Bench of Justices J. Nisha Banu and S. Sounthar, the Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police filed a sub-application to vacate the September 2 order. The Bench led by Ms. Justice Banu on September 9 ordered that the constitution of the commission shall be kept in abeyance till September 17.

In the meantime, a group of 12 women conservancy workers filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking a direction to the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) as well as the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women (TNSCW) to conduct an inquiry into the alleged human rights violations as well as the charges of sexual harassment raised by the protesters during their detention by the police on August 13.

When their writ petition was heard on September 11, the Chief Justice’s Bench granted time till October 10 for the State government to file its counter affidavit. It also directed the High Court Registry to tag the HCP along with the writ petition for a joint hearing. Subsequently, on September 17, the Bench led by Justice Banu refused to extend their interim order and asked the law officers to approach the Chief Justice’s Bench.

Accordingly, a mention was made before the Chief Justice’s Bench for an early hearing of the cases and the matters were heard on Friday when the court refused to interfere with the constitution of the one-man commission and insisted that it should commence its inquiry dehors the plea pending before the court for an inquiry by the SHRC and the TNSCW.