MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Deputy Superintendent of Police of Sivaganga District Crime Branch to file a report on the status of the investigation into a case pertaining to misappropriation of welfare amount sanctioned for students in Social Justice Hostels.
A bench of Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel also directed the Sivaganga collector to file a report on the disciplinary proceedings initiated against officials involved in the misappropriation.
The directions were issued on a PIL filed by A Sakthivel, state president of Suthanthira Tholilalar Katchi, seeking a CB-CID probe into the above case. The case was adjourned to October 6.
According to Sakthivel, the state government paid monthly assistance to students of social justice hostels to buy essential requirements like bathing soap, hair oil, etc. It paid Rs 100 per month for school students studying in Classes VI to XII and Rs 150 per month to college students.
But over Rs 2.35 crore in funds sanctioned by the government for the students in Sivaganga from 2017 to 2023 were swindled by the government officials, he alleged. An FIR was registered in this regard in 2023, and a revenue inspector and eight tahsildars were found to be involved in the scam, he added. However, the police have not filed a chargesheet in the case so far, Sakthivel claimed.
He also stated that though the allegations were made against eight tahsildars, the collector granted sanction for only three of them. Also, none of the tahsildars, including the three against whom sanction was granted, have been suspended from service, he further alleged.
One of the eight tahsildars was promoted as deputy collector, and another is working as a sirastadhar in the Sivaganga collectorate, he said, and apprehended tampering of documents or evidence relating to the case.