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Give nod to prosecute ex-AIADMK ministers: Tamil Nadu law minister
Tamil Nadu law minister S Regupathy in a letter to governor RN Ravi also asked him to clear the 13 bills pending for governor’s assent
Tamil Nadu law minister S Regupathy on Wednesday urged governor RN Ravi to grant sanction to prosecute former ministers in the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) regime in corruption cases, pointing out that the files have been pending with him for over nine months.
Amid the ongoing tussle between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led state government and the Raj Bhavan, the state’s law minister in a letter to Ravi also asked him to clear the 13 bills pending for governor’s assent.
The DMK government had earlier forwarded the sanction requests from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to prosecute four former AIADMK ministers — C Vijayabaskar, BV Ramana, KC Veeramani, and MR Vijayabaskar — in two graft cases to the governor, but his reply is still pending.
CBI is probing into the graft case pertaining to illegal sale of guthka in the southern state. The federal agency has already filed a charge sheet in the case against Vijayabaskar, the health minister during 2016-21 and Ramana, the then commercial taxes minister. They are accused of accepting bribes to fecilitate transport, storage and sale of banned gutkha products in Chennai.
On September 12, 2022, the DMK government forwarded the CBI’s plea to prosecute the two former ministers, besides two retired senior police officers and eight others, to the governor.
“Unfortunately, no action could be taken in this case due to the unprecedented delay by the governor, who has given no response,” the minister wrote in the letter.
Similarly, DVAC is probing a graft case against Veeramani and Vijayabaskar. The state cabinet, on September 12 last year and May 15, 2023 had forwarded letters seeking sanction clearance to the Raj Bhavan.
“The governor has not yet issued the necessary concert order to initiate court proceedings against the former AIADMK ministers,” the minister added.
Besides the issue of pending prosecution sanction, the DMK government also accused the governor of sitting on 13 bills, asking him to take quick action.
The communication came days after chief minister MK Stalin had accused the governor of being “biased” for not acting on cases against the AIADMK leaders, but “dismissing” — the order was later kept in abeyance — arrested minister V Senthil Balaji.
