The Madras High Court Bench here has ordered an police enquiry into the allegation of three electricity connections having been obtained from Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), Ramanathapuram distribution circle in the name of two dead people by forging signatures on applications.
Justice R. Suresh Kumar directed the Superintending Engineer and Assistant Engineer of TANGEDCO at Ramanathapuram to lodge a complaint with the police with respect to the fraud. He made it clear that the complaint should also name the officials who granted the connections without proper verification of records.
“The personnel department head is also directed to initiate appropriate disciplinary action against officials who might have been instrumental in giving such connections without verifying the applications made either fraudulently or by way of forgery,” the judge ordered.
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The orders were passed while dismissing a writ petition filed by A. Selvaraj, challenging an order passed by the Assistant Engineer on July 4, 2013, for disconnecting all the three electricity connections. The reason cited for disconnection was that the petitioner had obtained the connections by forging the signatures of two people of whom one was his father.
Though the petitioner denied the allegation, the judge refused to set aside the Assistant Engineer’s order and instead ordered for the police enquiry.