Chennai: The Madras high court directed state government to suspend within a week, the Justice R. Raghupathi Commission of Inquiry, which was assigned the task of probing alleged irregularities in the construction of the new secretariat building at Omandurar Government estate, and stop all further allotment of funds and government facilities, till the final disposal of the writ petitions.
Passing an order on the stay vacate petition filed by state government on Friday, Justice S.M Subramaniam directed the Commission of Inquiry and Justice Raghupathi to hand over all records, reports of the investigating agencies, statements and evidence collected, to the state within two weeks.
On receipt of these documents, the state was directed to scrutinize these, and if a prima facie case was found, institute criminal prosecution against all public servants, government officials and persons concerned, under the penal provisions of law.
He also directed that bungalows allotted to the retired judge and offices shall be vacated within a month from the date of the present order by the state.
The matter relates to the commission of inquiry appointed by the AIADMK government in connection with the construction of a new secretariat building built during the DMK regime. The HC had stayed the functioning of the Justice R. Raghupathi Commission on March 12, 2015 itself. Two days ago, the judge slammed government for spending over Rs 2 crore for the defunct commission.
Senior counsel P. Wilson appearing for former CM M. Karunanidhi submitted that the Commission was acting in a biased manner and was draconian. Justice SM Subramaniam also directed government to review the functioning of the other four commissions headed by retired judges of the Madras High Court and take a decision in respect of their further continuance, dissolving the same or fixing the time limit for the submission of reports based on legal principles settled by the Supreme Court of India, within four weeks.
Justice S.M Subramaniam said, "This court is of the opinion that such commissions of inquiry are appointed and prolonged for an unspecified period in order to neutralize the sensitiveness of the issues involved and divert the attention of people. Some commissions are appointed for political reasons.
The ultimate objectives set out for appointing commissions of inquiries are not only diluted but completely frustrated." He said that these are allowed to continue for years together in respect of a single subject and the reports not submitted for a number of years. Such being the validity and status of the inquiry report of the Commission of Inquiry, the fact finding method can be adopted by the state through any other method without spending huge amounts of the tax payers' money."
