FIR Against Former AIADMK Minister SP Velumani Prima Facie Malafide, Court No Place For Political Parties To Score Over One Another: Madras HC

The Madras High Court on Thursday said that the court should not be made a place for the political parties to score over one another. The bench of Justice PN Prakash and Justice RMT Teeka Raman was hearing the petitions filed by former AIADMK Minister SP Velumani to quash the FIRs filed against him alleging irregularity in granting tenders. 

While hearing the matter, the court observed that the matter appeared to be a war between the two political parties. Even though war between parties was quite natural, the court emphasised that the court should not be a place where the parties come to score over the other.

"This is a fight between two political parties. Tension between two parties is natural and necessary for the state in a democracy. But please understand this court should not be the place for one party trying to score over another."

This is not a murder case. This is a case where you had enough time to conduct a proper detailed enquiry and find out who were the public servant who awarded the tenders in allegiance to the minister. You have not done any of that properly. Without doing your homework, you've approached the court.

On Thursday, ASG and Senior Advocate SV Raju, appearing for the former Minister submitted that there was no complaint with regard to the execution of the contract. The only complaint was regarding the manner in which the tender was allocated. Being a Minister, his only responsibility was to ensure that the contracts were executed properly. Thus, he had nothing to do with the awarding of the contracts and was merely being framed at the behest of the DMK party.

Background

The former Minister was accused of indulging in corrupt practices in award of corporation contracts. It was alleged that he had deliberately reduced the number of tenderers for public works and awarded contracts to his close aids, in violation of the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act 1998 and the rules as well as the Competition Act.

In 2019, a preliminary inquiry report was submitted to DVAC by investigation officer R Ponni who gave a clean chit to Velumani, subsequent to which the government decided not to press charges against him. In 2021, after a change in government, a fresh report was filed by the DVAC citing the 2016 and 2020 CAG reports and FIR was registered against the former minister after raids were conducted at his residence.

Case Title: Arappor Iyakkam v The Director and others

Case No: WP No. 34845 of 2018