District panchayat chairman of Tuticorin N. Chinnadurai, who has been fielded by the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam as candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls, is facing a serious charge pertaining to misappropriation of official funds when he held the post between 2006 and 2010.
Based on a petition filed by M. Ganesan from Veerapandianpattinam in Tuticorin district in 2011, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court ordered an inquiry against Mr. Chinnadurai for alleged financial irregularities to the tune of Rs.2 crore. As per the court’s direction, Additional Director of Panchayats Rajamni conducted an inquiry and recommended to the government that action should be taken against Mr. Chinnadurai. However, no action was taken.
Mr. Ganesan filed a petition again in the Madurai Bench that disposed of the petition after the government submitted that a vigilance inquiry was already going on against Mr. Chinnadurai and 11 others.
Hence, there was no need for a separate First Information Report.
Against this backdrop, Mr. Ganesan approached the Madras High Court with the prayer of direction to the government to register an FIR against Mr. Chinnadurai.
Terming these charges against him as “political conspiracy”, Mr. Chinnadurai said he could only place the proposals before the Tuticorin Municipal Council for its approval and could not do anything more.
“Once proposals pertaining to the development works to be executed are approved by the council, resolutions would be forwarded to the department concerned for execution. Based on the value of the work, either the district panchayat secretary or the Collector will give administrative sanction and sign and release the cheque for the works completed. Hence, I cannot swindle any official funds,” he said.
