Madras High Court takes objection to fresh probe against Edappadi Palaniswami after DMK came to power

The Madras High Court Tuesday took strong objection the decision of the Tamil Nadu government to conduct a fresh probe against former Chief Minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) regarding alleged irregularities in awarding State highway tenders. .Justice N Anand Venkatesh noted that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had already given a clean chit to EPS in 2018 and, therefore, there was no reason to order a fresh probe merely because there had been a change in the regime in the State in 2021.There was no infirmity in the probe conducted by the agency in 2018 when the allegations had first surfaced, the Court said.It minced no words stating that only reason for a fresh probe was that there had been a change in power in the State in 2021."There is no reason for conducting another preliminary inquiry afresh as was ordered by the Government. In the considered view of this Court, such a direction has been given only due to the change in the political party that has come into power," the judgment said.It deprecated the practice of political parties using courts as playgrounds to play political games. “In cases of this nature, the Court is like a playground where the ruling and opposition party try to score a point for their own political games. Ultimately, the order passed by the Court will only become a subject matter of a talk show in the television channels, which will be discussed with a lot of hue and cry where the participants will scream at the top of their voice supporting one party or the other and ultimately, it will all get consigned to nothing,” the High Court said.It, therefore, dismissed a petition filed in 2018 by DMK member RS Bharathi seeking a DVAC probe against EPS..“There is no doubt in the mind of this Court that the first respondent (DVAC) took a volteface on account of change of government and things started moving in the year 2023. In none of the communications that was placed before this Court, there is even a reference that the earlier preliminary inquiry report is not in conformity with law or that it is unreasonable or that some new materials have cropped up to order for a fresh inquiry. Hence, this Court holds that the preliminary inquiry has been directed to be held afresh only for the reason that the other political party has come into power. The political agenda of an individual or a political party should not be subversive of the rule of law,” the Court said..Bharathi had filed a petition against EPS in 2018 alleging that the former Chief Minister had awarded contracts for construction and upkeep of State highways to those related to him and had caused the State exchequer a loss of around ₹4,800 crore..Following Bharathi’s petition, a single-judge of the High Court had directed the DVAC to hand its ongoing probe into the allegations to the Central Bureau of Investigation. However, following separate appeals by DVAC and EPS, the Supreme Court had set aside the single-judge’s order and directed the High Court to consider the matter afresh..When the High Court began hearing the matter afresh, the State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohammed Jinnah had informed the Court that DVAC’s earlier preliminary report had been rejected by the Vigilance Commissioner and a fresh enquiry had been ordered.On July 6 this year, Bharathi through Senior Counsel NR Elango sought permission to withdraw his petition given that the Commissioner had already ordered a fresh inquiry. However, his request was opposed by EPS’ counsel, Senior Advocate Ariyama Sundaram saying that Bharathi should not be allowed to change his stand at his convenience..The Court noted that the DVAC had dealt with all allegations against EPS and had cleared him of the charges after finding no evidence against him. However, the DMK government had ordered a fresh preliminary enquiry without assigning any reasons merely because it was now in power.The Court, therefore, dismissed the petition..[Read Order]