Chennai:The Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has approached the Supreme Court challenging the Madras high court order directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into allegations of corruption against Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami.
The DVAC has informed the apex court that there was no cognisable offence made against the CM and they could not find any irregularities in the highway contracts. In the petition DVAC stated that that the CBI investigation was not sought by the petitioner. The DVAC also alleged that the high court had not perused the sealed reports filed by it and the
Madras high court passed the order without analysing the evidence presented before it.It may be noted that AIADMK organising secretary C. Ponnaiyan recently clarified that DVAC may appeal against the HC order. The Opposition leader and others had condemned the remarks.
Meanwhile, DMK has filed a caveat on Saturday before the Supreme Court stating that no order should be passed without hearing the party.
The Madras HC recently ordered CBI probe into allegations of corruption against Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami in awarding highway and road expansion projects.
The order, a setback to ruling AIADMK, comes two days after the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), which reports to the Chief Minister, told the court there were no irregularities in awarding the contracts.
The DMK MP and party organising secretary R. S. Bharathi filed a complaint with DVAC on June 13, accusing Palaniswami, who holds the highways and road portfolio, of granting multi-crore projects to close relatives. Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira said the probe should be transferred to an independent agency because any agency under those in power will not conduct a free and fair investigation.
Justice Chandira ordered the government to hand over the case papers and files to CBI within a week and asked the probe agency’s joint director in Chennai to depute an officer of the rank of Superintendent of Police. “If the preliminary enquiry discloses offences of cognizable nature, he (CBI SP) shall register a case and proceed in accordance with law,” the court said.
