Sagayam report nails bureaucrats-politicians nexus
Advocate general A.L Somayaji opposed it stating the government cannot grant such blanket immunity to the officials
By : p. arul
Update: 2015-11-24 05:49 GMT
Chennai: Several heads of top bureaucrats and politicians seem set to roll shortly as U. Sagayam, the legal commissioner appointed by Madras High court to go into the colossal illegal mining scam in Madurai district, has revealed that the scam took place with the active support of bureaucrats and political executive between 1991 and 2012.
When a PIL filed by 'Traffic' Ramaswamy seeking a CBI probe into the illegal mining activity in Madurai came up for hearing before the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, V. Suresh, counsel for the Legal Commissioner, filed the sensational, voluminous report.
The committee submitted a 600-page report plus 7,000 pages of annexures containing sensitive and incriminating documents and photographic evidences to the court. Highlighting the babu-politician nexus, the counsel sought a Special Investigation Team of CBI comprising members drawn from experts from various departments.
After submitting the report, Suresh also filed an application seeking extension of tenure of the committee by four more weeks and to retain the staff and officials till then. He also sought an amount of Rs 5 lakh to meet the expenses of the commission.
Suresh also sought a direction to ensure that all personnel including Sagayam and other officials are not in any way harassed or victimised for having assisted the court in conducting the probe and sought protection for them. He also sought protection for the whistleblowers, who provided information and documentary evidence or testified before the committee. Advocate general A.L Somayaji opposed it stating the government cannot grant such blanket immunity to the officials.
Justifying the plea of Sagayam in seeking prevention of harassment, Suresh said that the rampant and colossal illegal mining operation took place for a period of 20 years from 1991 to 2012.
Suresh recollected that when Sagayam, IAS, was serving as the Madurai district collector in May 2012, he had sent a report stating that the government had incurred a revenue loss of Rs 16,300 crore. Subsequently, the special team of commissioner, Directorate of Geology of Mining, gave an estimated loss of Rs 18,600 crore.
Citing these reports, Suresh submitted that during the current probe, Sagayam noted all the evidence disclosed the involvement of the higher echelons of bureaucracy and the political executive.
Local people, who have been complaining about the illegal mining, hope that justice would be done after the intervention of the high court. The advocate general has sought time to examine the report. Appreciating the work done by the legal commissioner in performing the enormous task, the bench has ordered the copies of the report to be served to Regional Special Director, Enforcement Directorate and Ministry of Mines.
The bench posted the matter for further direction to January 4, 2016. Meanwhile, another petition was filed in the court to order a probe into other mining sectors in the state.
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