Amid high expectations from people affected by illegal granite quarrying, High Court-appointed Legal Commissioner U. Sagayam began the probe on December 3, 2012. His report is expected to be submitted before the High Court on October 15.
From the start, the probe was bogged down controversies. Firstly, it started with the State government not willing to appoint Mr. Sagayam for the job. The issue became so serious that the High Court imposed a fine on the State government for non-compliance.
Later, it got dragged on whether the Commissioner would probe the irregularities of all mines and minerals across the State. However, the HC ruled that the investingation would begin with granite issue restricted to Madurai.
Mr. Sagayam was also initially denied the officers of his choice for his team. However, later he was ably supported by a few serving State government officials — Deputy Collectors Rajaram and Keerthi Priyadarshini; Joint Director of Agriculture Jeyasingh Gnanadurai (who has since retired from service), and Assistant Director of Mines Muruganantham, his personal secretary S. Albert Feranando, and a few retired officials.
There were also reports of bugging in the rooms where Mr. Sagayam and his team were staying. Complaints of quarry operators agents roaming in an intimidating manner around his office and a couple of threats he received also created sensation.
The death of an engineer, Parthasarathy, who helped the panel in aerial videography of quarries, in a car accident shocked the panel members. To top it all, a conman duped three businessmen by misusing the name of Mr. Sagayam. Using a morphed photograph of him interacting with Mr. Sagayam, the trickster took Rs. 60 lakh from them with a promise of getting them trucks of quarry operators impounded by the government at a throwaway price.
