Chennai: After almost a decade, Tamil Nadu on Wednesday got a full time Vigilance Commissioner in seasoned bureaucrat V. K. Jeyakodi, who was appointed to the crucial post.
A government order issued by Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan said Jeyakodi, currently managing director of Tamil Nadu Power Finance and Infrastructure Development, has been posted as vigilance commissioner and additional commissioner for administrative reforms in the rank of additional chief secretary.
Currently, home secretary Niranjan Mardi is holding the post of vigilance commissioner as additional charge. The order appointing Jeyakodi to the post comes within days after the Madurai Bench of the Madras high court asked the state government to appoint an “upright officer with impeachable integrity” within two weeks to the post.
The court passed the order while hearing a petition challenging the appointment of T. K. Rajendran as Director General of Police since his name has cropped up in the gutka scam. While upholding Rajendran’s appointment, the high court ordered detailed investigation by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) into the gutka scam.
Jeyakodi’s appointment assumes significance since he has to monitor the inquiry by the DVAC into the gutka scam, in which health minister C. Vijayabhaskar and senior police officers are alleged to have been involved.
This is the first time a full-time officer is being appointed to the crucial post in more than a decade. Successive governments had asked either the chief secretary or the home secretary to handle the department as additional charge.
