CHENNAI: A vacation bench of the Madras High Court has directed the State government to keep in a sealed cover the report to be submitted by the one-man commission led by retired IAS officer Santhanam on completion of his enquiry into the Aruppukottai Assistant Professor Nirmala Devi scandal.
The bench of Justices V Parthiban and AD Audikesevalau gave the direction while entertaining a PIL petition from Ganesh of Revolutionary Youth and Students Federation (RYSF) on Thursday.
Since the petitioner has expressed an apprehension that the Officer is likely to submit his report shortly, much before the completion of the hearing on the PIL, in which event the criminal investigation by the police may be diluted, this court is of the view that the report to be submitted by the committee, before the next date of hearing, shall be kept in a sealed cover and await further orders from this court on June 6, the bench said.
Earlier, the counsel appearing for petitioner submitted that the report to be filed by Santhanam may scuttle the criminal investigation into the case, which has already been set in motion. Therefore, he prayed for an urgent hearing on the PIL petition. In his writ miscellaneous petition, he also prayed for grant of interim injunction restraining the committee from submitting the report till the completion of the investigation by the CB-CID.
The government pleader pointed out to the judges that an identical petition had been filed in the Madurai Bench, which was dismissed. However, a copy of the order has not been made available on record, he added.