Chennai: In the case of receiving a bribe of Rs. 634 crore in the appointment of municipal officials, even though the Enforcement Directorate sent a letter with evidence to the DGP, the previous DMK government did not take any action against former minister Nehru
Government Advocate General Vijay Narayan alleged in the High Court that no action was taken.
During the previous DMK regime, it was alleged that bribes of up to Rs. 634 crore were collected for the appointment of 2,538 assistant engineers and junior engineers in the Municipal Administration Department, and accordingly the Enforcement Directorate had sent a letter to the Tamil Nadu DGP urging action under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the concerned department minister K.N. Nehru and his brothers, among others.
Based on that, AIADMK MP I.S. Inbadurai had filed a petition in the Madras High Court seeking directions to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption to register a case against K.N. Nehru and others.
The High Court, which heard that petition, directed the Anti-Corruption Department to register a case against the persons concerned based on a letter from the Enforcement Directorate regarding this irregularity.
In this situation, since the High Court issued this order without hearing his side’s arguments, a petition was filed on behalf of K.N. Nehru requesting that the order be reviewed. This petition came up for hearing again yesterday before the bench of Chief Justice S.A. Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arulmurugan.
At that time, appearing on behalf of the Tamil Nadu government, Advocate General Vijay Narayan said, “The Enforcement Directorate has sent a letter to the Tamil Nadu DGP during the previous DMK regime, accusing the concerned persons of irregularities in the appointment of municipal officials by taking bribes of up to Rs. 634 crore.
However, the previous DMK government protected K.N. Nehru without taking any action against him. In the case filed by Inbathurai in this regard, a notice has been issued to Nehru to respond and time has been granted. But a review petition has been filed alleging that time was not granted.
The Enforcement Directorate’s letter has brought to light, with evidence, that corruption of up to Rs. 634 crore took place in the appointment of officials. Therefore, the petition filed by K.N. Nehru’s side seeking a review of that order is not maintainable. It should be dismissed,’ he argued.
Senior advocates Siddharth Luthra and B.H. Aravind Pandian, appearing for Nehru’s side, said, ‘Although notice had been issued in that case, the High Court ordered registration of the case without hearing our side’s arguments on what happened in this matter.
They argued that a decision had already been taken under the previous administration to seek a review of the order directing the filing of a case, and that the present government has no authority to withdraw the petition that was filed.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the judges have reserved judgment without specifying a date on the petition filed on behalf of K.N. Nehru seeking a review of the High Court’s order directing the registration of a case.
They also ordered an extension of the interim order already issued, which said that no further action should be taken in the case registered against Nehru until then.
