I-T, chief secretary exchanges in Tamil Nadu gutka case under Madras HC lens

MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu chief secretary's office to submit before it in a sealed cover all communication it had received from the income tax department in connection with the gutka scam case by January 28.

A division bench of Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice P D Audikesavalu issued the direction on a petition filed against chief secretary Girija Vaidyranathan accusing her of perjury - lying under oath - in the case.

The petitioner, K Kathiresan of Madurai, had alleged that the chief secretary had filed a false affidavit before the court by stating that no documents pertaining to the scam were available in her office.

‘Docus were retrieved from Poes Garden’

The petitioner said that when the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption wrote to the I-T department in 2017 seeking the documents, it was informed that they were sent to the chief secretary’s office. Later, the documents were retrieved from the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence.

It may be recalled that Kathriesan had earlier filed a public interest litigation (PIL) for quashing the extension of service granted to T K Rajendran as director general of police (DGP). The petitioner claimed that the then chief secretary had failed to disclose the official’s alleged involvement in the gutkha scam to the empanelment committee of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) while considering names fit for appointment of the Tamil Nadu DGP.