The Madras High Court on Wednesday wanted to know whether the Regupathi Commission of Inquiry submitted materials collected in connection with alleged irregularities in the construction of a new Secretariat complex here to the Chief Secretary before forwarding them to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC).
Justice R. Mahadevan asked Advocate General Vijay Narayan to ascertain the fact by Friday. He also wanted to know the exact date when the materials were forwarded to the DVAC. The queries were posed while hearing a writ petition filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M.K. Stalin against the DVAC inquiry.
Arguing for the petitioner, senior counsel P. Wilson brought to the notice of the court that the Commission of Inquiry was appointed by the AIADMK government in 2011 to inquire into alleged irregularities in the construction of the Secretariat complex at Anna Salai here during DMK’s regime between 2006 and 2011.
‘Is DVAC the govt?’
The Commission became almost defunct starting 2015 when the High Court restrained it from proceeding further following a writ petition filed by former DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi. On August 3 this year, Justice S.M. Subramaniam of the High Court passed an interim order in the petition directing the State to suspend the Commission.
He also directed the Commission to hand over all materials collected by it to the State government which, in turn, was ordered to scrutinise those materials and institute criminal prosecution against public servants and government officials concerned if a prima facie case had been made out.
However, without following the court’s diktat in letter and spirit, the State government had, on September 24, issued a Government Order directing the secretary to the Commission to submit the documents directly to the DVAC. The G.O. was followed by a government letter according sanction for an inquiry by the DVAC, the senior counsel contended.“Is DVAC the government to scrutinise the materials and take a decision on the issue? The files have not reached the Secretariat at all. It is against the order passed by the court,” the counsel argued.
Replying, the A-G said the DVAC had been asked to conduct only a preliminary inquiry to find out if any cognisable offence had been made out on the basis of materials forwarded to it. As of now, no First Information Report (FIR) had been registered against anyone, he clarified.