The Tamil Nadu government has issued a show cause notice to former Nadigar Sangam President Nassar and General Secretary Vishal, demanding to know why a special officer should not be appointed by the state to oversee the responsibilities of the organisation. The notice, which has come from the Commercial Taxes and Registration Department, points out that due to the absence of a duly elected committee, day to day activities of the registered society are not being managed.
The show cause notice was issued on October 5 by K Balachandran, Principal Secretary to the government. It was issued based on a complaint given by members MRR Santhanam, former office bearer Radha Ravi's brother, and M Chitralekha. The South Indian Film Artist Association aka the Nadigar Sangam polls took place on June 23. The Registrar of Societies had temporarily called off the Nadigar Sangam polls just days before it was set to happen, based on a complaint from 61 members that they were removed from the voters' list by the contesting Pandavar Ani to skew the election results in their favour. However, the polls did take place after the members went to court but the results have been withheld. A decision about the counting of votes is expected to be made by the HC on October 15.
Elections in the Nadigar Sangam are held once every three years to elect the president and other members of the group. The last elections were held in 2015 and Nassar was elected as the president. His term ended in October 2018.
Despite this, the government has taken cognisance of the complaint filed by the members. The show cause notice states, "Complaints have been received regarding the lack of effective machinery to watch the construction activities of the association building wherein the members have contributed funds towards it. Since the tenure of the then office bearers have ended on October 2018, the day to day activities of the society has been stalled. It has been infored that all the benefits for the needy members have been stopped in view of the cases pending before the honourable high court. Complaints have also been made as to whom they should raise their issues as their day to day life is affected."
It further states that there is no 'proper management' and that in the absence of a duly elected committee, the society is not in a position to manage its day to day activities, in respect to promoting art and culture as well as protecting the interest of the film artists.
"The fact remains that the declaration of election results and consequential assumption of charge by the committee members is likely to get delayed on account of pendency of election related disputes in the Honourable High Court. As a result, disbursement of funds to the poor artists in the form of educational fund, medical support and other activities have come to a halt," states the notice.
In view of this, the notice says that the Inspector General of Registration has recommended to appoint a special officer to manage the affairs of the society. The government has accepted the recommendation and is seeking to appoint an officer. They have, however, given former office bearers 30 days time to respond to the notice with rebuttals, if any.
The Nadigar Sangam has told the media that a reply will be given within the stipulated time.