The Madras High Court on Thursday quashed a Government Order (G.O.) issued on September 24 and a consequential letter written on September 28 for an inquiry by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) into alleged irregularities in the construction of a new Legislative Assembly-cum-Secretariat complex at Anna Salai during the DMK regime between 2006 and 2011.
Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana passed the order while allowing writ petitions filed by DMK president M.K. Stalin and treasurer Duraimurugan. She agreed with senior counsel P. Wilson that the government had ordered the DVAC inquiry in a hasty manner without going through records collected by a Commission of Inquiry, which was brought to an “unceremonious end”.
‘Violation of order’
Such a hasty action amounted to violating an interim order passed by Justice S.M. Subramaniam of the High Court on August 3 on a writ petition filed by DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi before his death on August 7, Justice Sathyanarayana said. The interim order mandated the government to suspend the commission of inquiry led by former High Court judge R. Regupathi and then arrive at a decision on the need for criminal action.
“A reading of the impugned (under challenge) G.O. in its entirety would go to show that the government has not even cared to receive the files from the commission, much less to read and make out a prima facie case for referring the matter to the DVAC,” she added.
After the interim order, Mr. Regupathi tendered his resignation on August 10 and the government decided not to appoint any other retired judge to the commission.
The judge also doubted whether criminal action could be initiated on the basis of material collected by a commission rendered defunct.
“Whether reliance can be placed upon the materials and evidences collected by the investigating agencies appointed by the commission is a question to be decided and the same is left open by this court,” she said.
Nevertheless, while concluding her judgment, the judge said: “When the mission of the commission is incomplete, and there is no report based on which the government can proceed further, the impugned G.O. has been issued without jurisdiction and the same cannot be sustained.” She was not persuaded by submissions of State Public Prosecutor A. Natarajan that the DVAC had been ordered to submit its inquiry report only to the government and not to initiate prosecution straightaway.
Though the Secretariat complex was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2010, the AIADMK government converted it into a government multi super-specialty hospital immediately after it assumed power in 2011. It also constituted the commission of inquiry in the same year. Unhappy over the commission’s performance, the High Court ordered its suspension on August 3 this year.
