The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) on Wednesday informed the Madras High Court of having forwarded a graft complaint received against Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani to the State government for approval in accordance with a recent amendment made to the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988.
Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira was told that the complaint lodged by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam organising secretary R.S. Bharathi on September 10 was forwarded to the State government on September 12, with due intimation to the complainant, for approval since the latest amendments to the PCA Act had come into force from July 26 this year.
Advocate General Vijay Narayan pointed out that Parliament had inserted Section 17A, a new provision, into the Act thereby creating a bar on police officers to conducting inquiry or investigation into an offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant in discharging his or her official functions, without the previous approval of the authorities concerned.
However, senior counsel N.R. Elango, representing the complainant, said that a Minister came under the purview of Section 17A(c) of the amended Act and therefore in all earnestness the DVAC should have forwarded his client’s complaint to the Governor, who was the competent authority to remove the Minister from office, and not to the State government.
“My complaint is that the government itself is the accused. The Minister is part of the government. Therefore, the very forwarding of my complaint to the government for approval is itself illegal. It should have been forwarded to the Governor and not to the government,” the senior counsel contended and the Advocate General sought time to reply to it.
Hearing adjourned
Accepting the request, the judge adjourned the hearing to a petition filed by the complainant to October 23 for arguments on the issue as to whether the complaint should have been forwarded to the Governor or the government. In his petition, Mr. Bharathi had sought for a court monitored probe, by a special investigation team, into the charges of corruption.
The petitioner had accused the Minister of having abused his official position to obtain government contracts for a list of seven private firms, with which he allegedly had close ties, and thereby indulged in misappropriation of public funds as well as accumulation of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
It was pointed out that the turnover of one of the seven firms had skyrocketed from just ₹17.47 crore in 2011-12 to ₹142.94 crore in 2016-17. Over this period, it had bagged contracts worth ₹498.42 crore. Similar was the case with the six other firms and contracts had been awarded through departments under the control of the minister, the petitioner alleged.
“I submit that benamis of Mr. Velumani have become directors and control companies in unrelated sectors like jewellery and hospitality through unaccounted money gained through contracts awarded by him and these companies are used for money laundering of his disproportionate assets,” the affidavit read.
The petitioner claimed that the surplus funds of Greater Chennai Corporation had got depleted from ₹ 942 crore in 2012 to ₹543 crore in 2013 and it had now become debt ridden with a loan of ₹ 2,500 crore. The reason for the state of affairs was attributed to maladministration by the Minister who was accused of irregularities in awarding contracts.
It has been contended that there had been a spate of withdrawals from the fixed deposit accounts held by Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation without regard to its financial health and it had led to the corporation turning bankrupt. The corporation was now borrowing money even for its day to day operations, the petitioner said.
“Mr. Velumani has singularly ensured the utter ruin of the finances of local bodies in Tamil Nadu and he is responsible for the disastrous state of governance prevailing in Corporations and municipalities,” the petitioner said and insisted on a detailed investigation on the basis of a complaint lodged by him with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on September 10.