Savvy Thakur
Published on: November 9, 2022 at 21:30 IST
On Tuesday, the Madras High Court reserved its decision on the appeals made by the former AIADMK Minister SP Velumani to have the FIRs that alleged irregularities in the grant of contracts during his tenure quashed.
After hearing the counsel for various parties, including the former minister and the prosecution, the judgment was reserved by the bench of Justices PN Prakash and RMT Teeka Raman, which hears cases involving MPs and MLAs.
It is alleged that the former minister of municipal administration engaged in dishonest practices when awarding corporate contracts.
In violation of the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act, 1998, the rules, and the Competition Act, it is alleged that he had deliberately reduced the number of tenderers for public works and awarded contracts to his close associates.
Velumani’s attorney, Senior Advocate SV Raju, claimed that the current government was targeting him and that a preliminary investigation had already cleared him.
Advocate General R. Shunmughasundaram, on the other hand, had refuted the allegations of wrongdoing and argued that the accused could not rely on the preliminary inquiry report to prove his innocence.
Additionally, the AG had argued that the court cannot dismiss petitions solely on the basis of a preliminary report because doing so would set a bad precedent.
Advocate Suresh presented arguments regarding the technical irregularities in the award of tenders on behalf of Arappor Iyakkam, the non-governmental organization that had initially filed the petitions to initiate proceedings against the minister.
It was argued that all of the businesses that took part in the tender process had ties to the former minister, so he cannot claim innocence.
The court was also informed that the IP addresses and mobile numbers of the businesses that took part in the tender process were identical.
State Public Examiner Hasan Mohammad Jinnah additionally had denied claims of malafide and presented evidence that the Directorate of Carefulness and Against Debasement had continued according to regulation and led appropriate enquiry.