The Madras High Court on Thursday, March 31, quashed the Tamil Nadu government’s order to suspend oncologist Dr Subbaiah Shanmugam, a former national president of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He was suspended by the state Health Department for allegedly violating government service rules. Subbaiah was working at the Kilpauk Medical College in Chennai.
Justice D Krishna Kumar of the Madras High Court gave the verdict on a petition filed by Subbaiah, setting aside the order of his suspension by the Tamil Nadu Health Department. The judge also directed the state government to conduct disciplinary proceedings against him in 12 weeks. Subbaiah, who was the head of the Oncology Department of the Kilpauk Medical College, was suspended by the Director of Medical Education (DME) and later, the health secretary had issued orders ratifying the action, as per a report in IANS.
The government health department took the action against Dr Subbiah after he met ABVP leaders who were jailed for protesting near the official residence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin at Chittaranjan Salai in Alwarpet, breaking the security ring. Tamil Nadu Advocate General R Shanmughasundaram in his contention, said that the ABVP is a political outfit. He also claimed that Subbaiah had posted political comments on his social media on the death of Lavanya, the student from Thanjavur who died by suicide.
Subbaiah was recently arrested by the Tamil Nadu police in an old case pertaining to the charge that he had urinated in front of a Chennai flat where a 62-year-old woman was staying. While he was arrested, the Madras High Court granted him bail two days later. The case was taken up as an emergency case by the court.
