Madras HC orders CBI probe into highways contract case

Chennai: In a major setback for Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami, the Madras high court on Friday ordered a CBI probe into charges of corruption in the award of huge road contracts by him to relatives. Expectedly, the opposition parties have called for his resignation with the DMK chief MK Stalin even demanding that the Governor should sack him if he did not voluntarily step down.

Passing the stunning order on a petition from the DMK, Justice A.D. Jagdish Chandira also slammed the state directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC) saying its preliminary inquiry was “nothing but a perfunctory exercise” that had not been done in a fair manner. Hence the case must be necessarily transferred to any other independent agency not under the control of the persons in power”, said the learned judge, observing that this case certainly fell within the category of “exceptional and rarest case”.

He directed the DVAC to hand over within a week the entire case papers and files to the CBI for conducting preliminary probe afresh within three months and to proceed further as per law should the inquiry disclose “offences of cognisable nature”. He wanted the CBI investigators to also examine the World Bank officials connected with the projects mentioned in the DMK complaint.

The judge had reserved orders on October 9 after the DVAC informed that no cognisable offence had been made out against the Chief Minister in the complaint lodged with it by the DMK — the party’s organising secretary RS Bharathi had alleged in his complaint that the CM had abused his power in allotting road projects worth Rs 3,500 crore to his relatives and ‘benamis’.

Pointing out that probity in public life is of great concern to all citizens, the judge said the conduct of public servants should be above board and when a serious allegation is made against someone in power, that must be necessarily “purged only through an independent investigation process which is fair, just, reasonable and transparent”. \

In fact, the person concerned (CM in this case) should have “made an honest endeavour …to voluntarily transfer the case to an independent agency to clear the cloud, so that, it would instill confidence in the minds of citizens”.

On the other hand, said the judge, the allegations of conflict of interest, nepotism and crony capitalism made by the complainant (DMK’s Bharathi) against the CM and firms related to him were enquired into by the DVAC that was under CM’s control and the closure report even without enquiring into the complainant has been handed over to the Vigilance Commissioner who has been appointed by the CM. What else could be stated about this enquiry other than terming it as “perfunctory”, the judge asked.

“It does not need the wisdom of Solomon to infer that right from the receipt of the complaint and the registration of the preliminary enquiry, the conduct of DV & AC had been aimed with a sole objective of closing the case by filing a negative report as no case made out. The manner in which the inquiry had been conducted even without calling the complainant speaks for itself that the investigation had not been done in a fair and proper manner”, the judge added.

The judge observed being a constitutional court, it was aware of its limitations in ordering transfer of the investigation.

The extraordinary power must be exercised sparingly, cautiously and in exceptional situations wherein it becomes necessary to provide credibility and to instill confidence in the minds of public, he said.

The court order is seen as a major embarrassment for the AIADMK as Palaniswami will be the first CM in the state to face a CBI probe over corruption charges.