CHENNAI: Authorities must recover money from people who fraudulently claimed compensation under the Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway project, or a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe will be ordered, the Madras High Court has warned.
The accused persons had allegedly faked records and received several crore rupees for land acquisition in Kancheepuram district. In February 2020, the court ordered government authorities to identify the fake claims, but the order was disobeyed. A contempt of court petition was filed and the authorities were directed to comply. However, they failed, and were ordered to appear in court.
On Monday, when the respondent officials appeared in court, Justice M Dhandapani said their investigation was not satisfactory. “It is public money. It should be recovered from the fake claimants. Public money should be protected,” he said, and warned that if appropriate action is not taken, the court may have to order a CBI probe.
IAS officer P Ponniah, who had served as the Kancheepuram district collector, contended that the collector is not connected to the disbursal of compensation for national highway projects. Representing him, senior counsel P Wilson said it is the special district revenue officer (DRO) designated for land acquisition who is responsible.
Representing the CB-CID, which is investigating the scam, Additional Advocate General (AAG) P Kumaresan said the probe is still on, and about `4 crore has been recovered so far.
The judge posted the matter to December 2 for further hearing. The contempt of court petition was filed by R Rajendran.