CHENNAI: AN FIR has already been registered on the complaint of the Election Commission of India over allegations of bribing the voters during the by-election to RK Nagar Assembly constituency, ECI counsel told the Madras High Court on Monday.
When the PIL from advocate Vairakannan came up for hearing on Monday, ECI counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan stated that an FIR had already been registered in April last, based on the Commission’s complaint and its 34-page report on the allegations. He also produced an FIR copy.
A division bench of justices M Sathyanarayanan and M Sundar adjourned the matter till June 23. The petitioner had sought a direction to the ECI to take steps to file an FIR. He filed the PIL based on the ECI response to his RTI query.
The petitioner’s counsel S Duraiswamy submitted that the FIR had been filed against none, as the column to specify the accused/suspect names had been left blank. If the case has been registered against unknown persons, then at least the words ‘unknown’ must have been written in the column. It cannot be left blank, he argued.
When the bench wondered what were the contents of the 34-page report, Niranjan sought time to produce the report.
“After hearing the counsel for the petitioner and the respondents, this court is of the view that the annexure to the letter dated April 18 (complaint) of the ECI and the case diary of the crime registered by the E2 police station are required. As the respective counsel undertook to produce the same, the petition is posted to June 23 for further hearing,” the bench said. According to the petitioner, the ECI had directed the CEO and the Returning Officer to take steps to file an FIR.
Panel set up to curtail adulteration, govt informs HC
Chennai: To put an end to the unethical practice of adulteration, the State government on June 15 constituted a State-level steering committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary and district-level committees under the chairmanship of respective Collectors for the effective implementation of the regulatory provisions of TN Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, the Madras High Court was informed on Monday. When the PILs seeking action against the adulterators of milk on a war footing came up before a division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and M Sundar on Monday, State Health secretary J Radhakrishnan filed a counter. The government, after careful examination, accepted the proposal of the Commissioner of Food Safety and reconstituted the State and district level steering panels.