Recording the submissions of Advocate General Vijay Narayan that there is enough material to show that there was corruption in the New Secretariat Building construction, the Madras High Court on Thursday sought to know from the state why a DVAC probe was not ordered and criminal proceedings initiated while the Judicial Commission proceedings were already stayed by the High Court wayback in 2015.

New Secretariat Building

Chennai:

Wondering as to how many Commission of Enquiries are functioning in Tamil Nadu and what is the use of all these Commissions when nothing concrete comes out of them, Justice SM Subramaniam directed the state to file an affidavit stating the number of commissions that are functioning and the number of years they have been functioning. 

Justice Subramaniam offered the direction while hearing a petition filed by former chief minister M Karunanidhi in 2015 challenging the proceedings of the Justice R Reghupathy Commission of Inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the construction of a multi-crore building currently housing the Government Multi-Super Speciality Hospital on Anna Salai. 

Stating that the commissions are headed by retired Judges of High Court and such commissions are functioning for years together without yielding any result and if this situation continues people will lose faith in all these commissions, the judge observed that the court will not be a mere spectator if the tax money of the people is wasted in all these inquiry commissions. 

Observing that people will think that all these commissions are only eye wash, the judge directed the state to file details of the staff, bungalows, the government vehicles used for these commissions and the expenditure incurred on all these commissions.  However, with the Advocate General seeking time to file an affidavit in this regard, the judge posted the case for further hearing to August 1.