The Madras High Court on Thursday decided to commence hearing from October 26 a petition filed by R.S. Bharathi of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in 2018 seeking a Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) probe into charges of nepotism and corruption in award of several civil work contracts by the State highways department, a portfolio held by the then Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Justice V. Sivagnanam fixed the date after hearing State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohammed Jinnah and advocate M. Mohammed Riyaz who told the court that he had filed a vakalatnama (authorisation permitting a lawyer to appear on behalf of his client) for the former Chief Minister since the Supreme Court had ordered latter’s inclusion as a party to the case. However, the High Court Registry was yet to take the vakalatnama on file, he said.
The SPP told the court that the High Court had actually disposed of the present petition in October 2018 by ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the allegations. The reason for such direction was that the then officials of the DVAC had reported to the court that a preliminary inquiry conducted by them did not reveal commission of any cognisable offence and hence they had filed a negative report before the Vigilance Commissioner.
Though the report was also filed before the court in a sealed cover, the High Court did not find any necessity to open it in view of the submission made by the DVAC and ordered a CBI probe. Expressing displeasure over the course adopted by the DVAC, the court said it was of the view that a fair and free investigation might not be conducted by any agency under the people in power and therefore the probe should necessarily be transferred to an independent agency.
However, when the order was taken on appeal by Mr. Palaniswami to the Supreme Court, the latter set aside the High Court’s order on August 3, 2022 and remitted the case back to the High Court for a fresh consideration. A Bench comprising the then Chief Justice N.V. Ramana, Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli wondered how the High Court could have commented upon the DVAC inquiry without even opening the sealed cover and perusing the preliminary inquiry report.
“Apart from the above, it appears the High Court did not even seek the impleadment of the appellant who is the main accused in the matter before transferring the investigation to the CBI. At the request of C. Aryama Sundaram, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant, we implead his client as a party before the High Court,” the Supreme Court wrote while remanding the matter back to the High Court.
