Chennai: The Madras high court made it clear that it would decide the fate of the Raghupathy Commission, constituted to probe the alleged irregularities in constructing a new secretariat building at Omandurar Government Estate, on Friday.
Justice S. M. Subramaniam refused to grant time sought by the counsel for the petitioner, former chief minister M Karunanidhi, to argue on the application moved by the government to vacate the stay on the functioning of the commission issued on March 12, 2015.
The counsel for petitioner R. Neelakandan filed a memo seeking time to argue on the vacate stay petition as they could not get instructions from the petitioner who has been hospitalised. He also claimed that the court did not have jurisdiction to hear the main writ petition as the court had portfolio only to hear miscellaneous petitions.
Justice Subramaniam said, “everybody prays for everybody’s well-being. We respect everyone, but the court should continue performing its duties.”
The judge said, “ there are two miscellaneous petitions moved by the government seeking to vacate the interim stay issued by the court. This court can very well hear and decide the pleas. You have already enjoyed the interim stay against the commission for over three years. Huge public money has been spent on the commission. Therefore, this court has to take care of the public issue involved.”
The judge posted that matter to Friday for final arguments. On Wednesday, the judge pulled up state government for allotting Rs 4.11 crore for the commission and observed that the government had not effectively monitored the functioning of the commissions.
