On Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu government informed the Madras High Court that there was 'no' prima facie case made out against ADMK leader Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) on corruption allegations over the construction of 11 medical colleges in Tamil Nadu during his tenure as Chief Minister.
When a PIL over the issue came up for hearing before the First Bench comprising Chief Justice M M Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, Advocate General P S Raman submitted that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption had conducted an elaborate and detailed inquiry.
Based on the inquiry, it was found that there was no prima facie case against the corruption allegations.
"A report was submitted to the Vigilance Commissioner, who, in turn, submitted it to the TN government. The TN government accepted the report and dropped the proceedings against Palaniswami," he added.
Earlier, in his petition, N Rajasekaran said that the construction work of 11 medical colleges during EPS's tenure as CM was done in gross violation of prescribed procedures.
The petition added that the violation resulted in large-scale misappropriation, and various officials and contractors were involved in corruption, attracting offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other penal provisions.
Therefore, N Rajasekaran filed a complaint. However, no FIR was registered against EPS.
Subsequently, he filed a petition, and when it came up for hearing, the government informed the court that, after a preliminary inquiry, a detailed inquiry is being carried out. However, there was no progress thereafter.
Hence, he filed the case as a PIL to direct the DVAC to conduct an inquiry into the allegations of corruption in the construction of medical colleges.
After which, today's submission by the TN government followed.
The Bench posted the matter for hearing post-Christmas vacation, to enable the petitioner's counsel to submit anything with regard to the scope of judicial review.
Ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, a clean chit in the concerned case comes as a sigh of relief to ADMK and its leader, EPS.
It also bolsters his image, especially after AIADMK’s general council meeting that took place on December 10, wherein a resolution categorically empowering Palaniswami to decide on the parties that would join the alliance is widely considered as a likely impediment to its ally BJP to unilaterally bring in alliance partners.
(With inputs from PTI)