'Criminal Law Moves Fast Against Poor, But Not Influential': Madras High Court As Centre Sanctions Prosecution Of 2 IAS Officers

When the matter came up for hearing, Justice Anand Venkatesh was informed that the Centre had accorded sanction to prosecute the two officers – KS Kandasamy and K Vijaya Karthikeyan. The court was also informed that the investigating agency would be acting upon the sanction and take steps to conduct an investigation against the officers and file a final report.

Taking note of the sanction, the judge orally remarked that the present case was a classic example of how the criminal law worked in the country where the law moved fast against the poor but needed a push when the case related to influential people.

“Classic case of how criminal law works in this country. See how much effort has been put in by so many people. Things move fast for poor people. But for influential people, we have to push and push, and ultimately we are here,” the court orally remarked.

The court was hearing a contempt petition filed by NGO Arappor Ayakkam against the delay in proceedings against former Minister SP Velumani and three IAS officers in a tender irregularities case.

SP Velumani is accused of abusing his official position while he was serving as the Minister for Municipal Administration. It is alleged that he had extended large-scale favouritism while awarding tenders for road works in Chennai Corporation and Coimbatore Municipal Corporation to his relatives and his close associates.

Arappor Iyakkam, an NGO, made a complaint with the DVAC. A preliminary enquiry was conducted and the DVAC was accorded sanction to register a regular FIR. Thus, an FIR was registered for offences under Sections 120B read with Section 420 and 409 of IPC and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(c) and Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

When some of the companies approached the High Court to quash the FIR against them, the court had refused the same and directed the DVAC to file the final report before the concerned jurisdictional court after getting a necessary sanction order against the public servants. Since this direction was not complied with, the NGO approached the court with a contempt petition.

In the previous hearings, the DVAC had informed the court that the orders had been complied with and a final report had been filed. It was, however, submitted that sanctions were yet to be obtained for prosecuting two IAS officers.

The court, however, criticised the delay in prosecuting the IAS officers. It highlighted that cases against former ministers, IAS officers, etc., had to be dealt with in an expeditious manner to bring public faith in the system. The court also called for an explanation for the delay.

Noting that it was very difficult to get corruption cases registered against powerful men in the country, the court had also called for an explanation from officials of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions Department of Personnel & Training, Government of India, and to inform the court of the stage at which the process was pending.

Following the court's direction, Joint Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Sushil Kumar, appeared before the court and informed that the delay was due to the voluminous documents that had to be meticulously gone through before processing them. The officer also assured the court that top priority will be given to the matter and the entire process will be completed within 2 months.

When the matter was again taken up today, the court was informed that the sanction had been granted.

The court however decided to monitor the further progress by the DVAC and adjourned the hearing to December 2.