Madras High Court-appointed Special Officer of Idol Wing-Criminal Investigation Department (CID) A.G. Ponn Manickavel on Friday claimed that his team was facing acute financial crunch as the State government had failed to comply with court orders to provide funds required for its uninterrupted functioning.

Appearing before a Division Bench of Justices R. Mahadevan and P.D. Audikesavalu, who had appointed him as a Special Officer hours after retirement on November 30, Mr. Manickavel said one of the assistants working in his office had not received her salary for past four months. “We have absolutely no funds. I have so far spent around ₹40,000 from my own pocket towards fuel expenses. There has been a specific direction in the November 30 judgment of this court to provide funds required for uninterrupted functioning of Idol Wing. Despite that we have not received funds,” the special officer told the court.

Ventilate grievances

However, Additional Additional General P.H. Arvindh Pandian said the officer could ventilate his grievances only before the Supreme Court and not the High Court. He told the Division Bench that the State government had preferred an appeal before the Supreme Court challenging his appointment as a special officer post-retirement.

“The Supreme Court has reserved its judgment on the issue and made it clear that any grievances in the meanwhile should be brought only to its notice. Let the special officer make an application before the Supreme Court and place whatever submissions he wants to make instead of ventilating his grievances before this court,” the AAG said.

After hearing him, tThe judges decided to await the verdict of the Supreme Court before looking into his grievance of funds not having been allocated for the smooth functiong of the Idol Wing.

They had appointed him as special officer to ensure continuity in investigation of various idol theft cases booked across the State.