‘No CBI probe against former electricity minister Natham Viswanathan’

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court dismissed a writ petition seeking a directive to the CBI to probe the allegation that the former electricity minister Natham Viswanathan had caused a loss of Rs 25,000 crore in buying electricity for the TANGEDCO.

Justice G Jayachandran on Wednesday dismissed the writ petition dated March 1, 2016 from S P Sreenivas to transfer the probe from the Director, Vigilance and Anti Corruption to the CBI.
The judge said the alleged illegality of entering into a contract with certain power generators was ill-conceived.

The fixation of purchase price at Rs 7.01 a unit could not be presumed to be with an ulterior motive. Even if it were so, it could be challenged only before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL).

If some ineligible persons were entertained and awarded the contract on buying power as alleged by the petitioner, it was for the other competitors who unsuccessfully participated in the tender bidding to challenge it. The transaction being a commercial one, the person aggrieved must be before the court and not a third party, the petitioner.

“This Court finds no ground to interfere and direct the complaint given by the petitioner to be registered and investigated by any specialized agency whatsoever. Hence, the writ petition is liable to be dismissed,” the judge said.