CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday refused pass any orders on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking directions to the state finance department to recover Rs 10 lakh disbursed by the Tamil Nadu governor from the discretionary grants fund sanctioned by the state government, to his media and communications advisor S Thirugnana Sambandam.
The first bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan said only the “appropriate authority” — the Tamil Nadu Auditor General — can take action in this regard and the court is not inclined to pass any orders. It then disposed of the petition filed by an RTI activist S Gandeeban of Vadapalani, Chennai.
The petition alleged that the governor has disbursed Rs 10 lakh to Thirugnana Sambandam, who was appointed in 2022 as the media and communications advisor to the governor, from the discretionary grants fund.
Stating that the post of advisor for media and communications is a honorary position without any salary and so, he cannot be considered a person deserving assistance from public funds, the petition noted that disbursal of funds to such undeserving persons would be contrary to the provisions of Article 213 of Chapter 9 of the Tamil Nadu Financial Code.
Advocate M Radhakrishnan, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the governor’s discretionary grants fund can be sanctioned only for public welfare schemes and objects such as charitable donations to institutions of public or quasi-public character and also to individuals who deserve assistance from the public funds as per the Tamil Nadu Financial Code.
The expenditure under the head of account “Discretionary Grants by the Governor” is subject to the audit of the Accountant General of TN, he said. He prayed for the court to issue appropriate directions to the state finance department to recover the amount.