CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered notice to the DVAC directing it to file response to a contempt of court petition filed by AIADMK MP IS Inbadurai seeking to punish former DVAC director AT Durai Kumar for failing to register an FIR, as per the court’s orders, on the alleged cash-for-jobs scam committed in the Municipal Administration and Water Supplies department.
The first bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, while ordering notice, directed DVAC to file a reply in two weeks; and adjourned the hearing accordingly.
Senior counsel V Raghavachari, representing the petitioner, submitted that the DVAC has failed to obey the February 20 orders of the court which directed the registration of FIR ‘forthwith’.
Advocate General PS Raman told the court the DVAC is contemplating filing a petition seeking a review of the court’s order as it has directed registration of FIR without obtaining a formal approval from the government for doing so under section 17 A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
He said the agency has sought his opinion on whether FIR can be registered without the approval under section 17 A and such approval is necessary even if the Constitutional court has ordered registration of FIR without the approval.
Inbadurai filed the contempt petition seeking to punish the then director (in-charge) of DVAC for wilful disobedience of the court’s February 20 orders to register an FIR based on the ED’s communication in the alleged cash for jobs scam in the recruitment of 2,538 posts in the MAWS department.
It said the respondents have deliberately refrained from registering FIR against minister KN Nehru under extraneous considerations and political influence, thereby defeating the very purpose of the order of the court. To ensure fair probe, it would be necessary for the court to direct an independent agency to register the FIR and proceed in accordance with the law against the said individual.