Chennai: Madras high court on Tuesday reserved its orders on a plea moved by a lawyer affiliated to BJP seeking action against chief minister M K Stalin’s secretary P Umanath IAS for alleged violation of the model code of conduct (MCC). It was alleged that despite the MCC being in force, the officer continued to issue directions to district collectors and police officials.According to the petitioner, Umanath continued to function as the chief minister’s secretary after the election announcement when govt officials came under the control of ECI, and has been issuing orders to district collectors and police officials, he said. Concluding the hearing, the first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan reserved its orders. TNN
