The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the State to file a report on a public interest litigation petition that sought a direction to the government to fill vacancies in the posts of social workers and psychologists in all central prisons and special prisons for women.
A Division Bench of Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and P. Velmurugan sought the State’s response on a petition filed by advocate K.R. Raja of Madurai, who pointed out that only two social workers were working in Madurai and Coimbatore central prisons.
The sanctioned strength of social workers in the State was only three — one each in Madurai, Coimbatore and Vellore prisons. In Vellore prison, the post was lying vacant. The other central prisons had no such post and it was discriminatory in nature, the petitioner said, adding no reasons had been given for selecting only three prisons.
