CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to file a reply to a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a CBI investigation into the FIRs registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in connection with the alleged corruption and swindling of money by certain officials and employees of Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) which runs liquor retail business.
A vacation bench of Justices G R Swaminathan and V Lakshminarayanan issued the direction when the PIL filed by K Venkatachalapathy, an advocate belonging to Tirunelveli who is associated with the BJP, came up for hearing.
While Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran requested for granting a two-week time to file a detailed counter-affidavit to the petition, the bench gave a week’s time to file it.
The AAG submitted that the FIRs had been registered since 2017 but “the petitioner was in deep slumber” and filed the PIL only now seeking a CBI probe, Ravindran said.
Venkatachalapathy stated an attempt to stall the investigation was made by the state government and the Tasmac by filing a “frivolous writ petition” against the money laundering proceedings.
“The respondents are resorting to various tactics to stall the investigation into the around Rs 1,000-crore scam and are creating hindrance to the probe,” he stated.
The petitioner further said that since the allegation involves huge amount of money, it is warranted that the probe against the officials is carried out without any impediment.