CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday reserved its order on a plea seeking a CBI probe into the 'gutkha scam' with a direction to the Tamil Nadu government and others to file their written arguments on January 30.
During the hearing, the court wondered why the state government was opposing a "simple" PIL.
"The way the Tamil Nadu government opposes a simple public interest litigation seeking CBI probe into the alleged gutkha scam prompts us to go deeper into the issue," it said.
"Why such strong resistance? When there are different agencies, and states involved why cannot the CBI handle the case and the state provide assistance to them," the first bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose orally observed.
Recording arguments put forth by the state, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC), the food safety department and the petitioner J Anbazhagan of DMK, the bench reserved its order with a direction to file their respective written arguments on January 30.
Earlier, Advocate General Vijay Narayan said the case being predominately against state government officials, it should be probed by DVAC, with cooperation from the CBI, and not vice versa.
"... The investigation by DVAC, is in the final stage, and most incidents connected to the case have taken place inside Tamil Nadu, presence of two or more central government officials in the suspect list does not automatically warrant a CBI inquiry."
This apart, with the available resources, it is humanely impossible for the CBI to probe all the cases involving central government officials, Narayan said.
Representing Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department, Additional Advocate General S R Rajagopalan said the department has seized and destroyed over 1,19,650 kg of banned gutkha products across the state.
Additional Advocate General P H Aravind Pandian for DVAC submitted that Anbazhagan has not filed the PIL in his private capacity, but as a member and legislator of DMK, with political motive.
The crux of the contention of the petitioner is that when DGP who is the head of the state police force is arraigned as an accused, the probe conducted by DVAC cannot be fair and independent, he argued.
But the fact is that DVAC officials do not report to DGP or any other police official for that matter, he said.
"The officials of DVAC, though drawn from the police force, they fall under public administration department and report to its secretary," Pandian said.
Countering the argument, senior counsel for Anbazhagan, P Wilson, said, "Even a FIR in the case was filed only after the issue was highlighted in the state assembly by the opposition leader. When such was the situation, how could we accept that DVAC would do a fair probe?"
The counsel said as the allegation is of a multi-state scam, CBI was the only appropriate agency to carry out probe.
The PIL has alleged that a state minister and high-level state and central government officers, including police officials, were involved in the scam to "facilitate" the sale of banned 'gutkha' (tobacco product).
It contended that the Central Bureau of Investigation alone can conduct a thorough and impartial probe in the matter.
The I.T department had informed the court on January 12 that its confidential letter seeking action against those involved in the 'gutkha scam' was seized from a room occupied by expelled AIADMK leader Sasikala in the Poes Garden residence of Jayalalithaa during a search on November 17 last.
This information was disclosed in an affidavit submitted by Principal Director of Income Tax, Chennai, Susie Babu Varghese on the PIL filed by Anbazhagan.
Sasikala is currently serving a prison term at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru after being convicted in a disproportionate assets case.
Jayalalithaa was admitted to a hospital here with complaints of fever and dehydration on September 22, 2016 and died on December 5 that year.