No prima facie case made out against ex-CM Palaniswami, TN Govt tells HC

Giving a clean chit to AIADMK top leader Edappadi K Palaniswami, rival DMK-led Tamil Nadu Government on Tuesday informed the Madras High Court that there was no prima facie case made out against him in respect of allegations of corruption in the construction of 11 medical colleges in the State during his tenure as Chief Minister.

Advocate General PS Raman made the submission when a Public Interest Litigation petition in this regard came up for hearing before the First Bench comprising Chief Justice MM Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan.

Raman submitted that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption conducted a detailed inquiry and found that there was no prima facie case made out against Palaniswami as regards the allegations of corruption.

A report was submitted to the Vigilance Commissioner, who in turn submitted it to the state Government. The State Government accepted the report and dropped the proceedings against Palaniswami, he said.

The bench adjourned the matter to be posted for hearing after Christmas vacation. This is to enable the counsel for the petitioner, to make his submission with regard to the scope of judicial review.

In his petition, N Rajasekaran submitted that during the period when Edappadi Palaniswami was the Chief Minister, the Government constructed medical colleges in 11 districts in the State. The total project cost was shared in the ratio of 60 per cent by the central Government and 40 per cent by the State Government.

According to the petitioner, the construction work was carried out in gross violation of prescribed procedures, resulting in large-scale misappropriation and corruption by various officials and contractors, attracting offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other penal provisions. Therefore, he lodged a complaint. But no FIR was registered against the former Chief Minister.

He said subsequently, he filed a petition and when it came up for hearing, the Government informed the court that after a preliminary inquiry, a detailed inquiry was being carried out.

But, there was no progress thereafter. Hence, he filed the present PIL to direct the DVAC to conduct an inquiry into the allegations of corruption.