Tender Irregularities Case: Madras High Court Directs Centre To Process Sanction For Prosecuting Two IAS Officers Within 2 Months

When Justice Anand Venkatesh was informed that the files were being processed and had been sent to the Central Vigilance Commission for perusal, the court also called for an affidavit detailing the steps taken from November 2025 with respect to the grant of sanction for prosecuting the IAS officers.

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.

The State had later informed the court that the files were pending with the Union Government and a sanction had to be obtained from the Prime Minister's Office. The court then commented 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 informed the court that the file had been sent to the Central Vigilance Commissioner for his remarks, after which the file will be sent to the Prime Minister's Office, which is the authority for granting sanction to prosecute the IAS officers. Kumar also assured the court that top priority will be given to the matter and the entire process will be completed within 2 months.

The court recorded the submission and asked the officer to file an affidavit in this regard. The court then adjourned the hearing to November.

Case Title: Arappor Iyakkam v S Vimala IPS

Case No: Cont P 2012 of 2025