CHENNAI : Industrialist C Sivasankaran, presently staying in a hotel in MRC Nagar in R A Puram, has moved the Madras High Court to revoke a ‘look out circular’ (LOC) issued by the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) of the Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs under Sec.10-B of the Passport Act, against him, after declaring it as an arbitrary exercise of power, abuse of authority and without jurisdiction.
And Justice AD Jagadish Chandra, before whom the writ petition from Sivasankaran, the founder of Aircel and presently a citizen of Seychelles and enjoying the attendant privileges and rights concomitant with his position as a foreign ambassador/diplomat, came up for hearing, ordered notice to the authorities concerned on Tuesday.
According to the petitioner, holder of a diplomatic passport, the CBI had registered an FIR to investigate into the sanction of loans to WinWind Oy in Finland and Axcel Sunshine Limited by the IDBI. It had caused a loss of more than Rs 600 crore to the IDBI.
Sivasankaran’s counsel contended that his client’s name was erroneously included in the FIR, causing untold damage to his reputation and to the diplomatic relationship between Seychelles and India. He was cited as chairman of Siva Group of Companies. He ceased to be a director of the company as early as in 2008. He never had any association with Axcel Sunshine at any point of time, the counsel added.
When Sivasankaran was scheduled to travel to Italy on January 27 on a valid visa and reported at the Chennai International Airport, he was not allowed to proceed further. He was told that there was a lookout circular against him and he cannot leave the country. The circular is ex facie illegal and violates his diplomatic privileges, his counsel said.