Alleging legal infirmities in the February 20, 2026, order of the Madras High Court directing the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to register an FIR forthwith in the alleged cash-for-jobs scam involving the Tamil Nadu Municipal Administration and Water Resources Department, Minister for the department KN Nehru urged the court to suspend the order and grant him protection from any such action by the DVAC.
However, the first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan, before whom a contempt of court petition and the review petitions came up for hearing on Tuesday, adjourned the hearing to the fourth week of June 2026, recording the undertaking of the contempt petitioner that he will not precipitate the case.
Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Nehru, submitted that his client was not given the opportunity of being heard before the court passed the orders and made certain accusations against him.
“The order was accusing me (Nehru) of several things without granting an opportunity of hearing. The court has ordered registration of an FIR against me, saying that I am guilty of so many things. So, I am asking the court to suspend the order until I am heard,” he said.
He noted that the order was passed on a petition filed by a political opponent, AIADMK MP IS Inbadurai.
The counsel further noted that Nehru was issued a notice, possibly wrongly, in the afternoon on February 4, after the court had already reserved orders in the forenoon.
The bench stated that the Registry could not have sent the notice when the court had not actually ordered issuance of the notice.
Further, it noted that there was no specific direction in the February 20 order to register an FIR against the Minister.
Senior counsel V Raghavachari, representing AIADMK MP IS Inbadurai, who filed the contempt petition seeking to punish the then Director (in-charge) of DVAC, AT Duraikumar, for not obeying the orders of the court, stated that he would not precipitate the case until the court vacation is over.
“Senior counsel for the contempt petitioner undertakes not to precipitate until the vacation,” the bench said before adjourning the hearing of the cases to the fourth week of June.
It may be recalled that the first bench, comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava (since retired) and Justice G Arul Murugan, passed the February 20 order on the petition filed by Inbadurai seeking a direction to the DVAC to register an FIR in relation to the recruitment of 2,538 posts in the MAWS Department, based on the communication sent to the DGP by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding the alleged scam. Later, he filed the contempt of court petition alleging non-compliance and wilful disobedience of the order.
Meanwhile, the state government filed a review petition praying that the court review the order. Later, Nehru also moved another review petition seeking to set aside the order to register an FIR.