CHENNAI: The state government informed the Madras High Court on Friday that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has initiated a detailed inquiry into the allegations on irregularities in recruitment of officers and staff in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department (MAWS), based on a communication sent by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on October 27, 2025, to the director general of police (DGP).
Advocate General PS Raman made the submission before the first bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, when the respective petitions came up for hearing. The A-G filed a status report, referring to the petition filed by Athinarayanan of Madurai seeking a direction to the DGP to register an FIR based on the ED’s communication. The report stated that the government, on November 1, 2025, requested the DVAC director to take appropriate action. The government accorded permission for the inquiry through letters dated December 9, 2025, and January 12, 2026, under section 17 (A) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Consequently, the DVAC initiated the probe on December 12, 2025, and the same is in progress, stated the report. Further, the bench directed the Registry to tag a petition filed by AIADMK MP IS Inbadurai, seeking the registration of FIR by the police based on the ED’s communication on the alleged irregularities, with the other petitions. It directed the DGP to file counter-affidavits and posted the matters for further hearing on January 28.
Meanwhile, referring to the ED’s petition seeking a direction to the DGP to register FIR based on its communication on alleged illegal sand mining, the A-G told the court that the government filed a transfer petition to move this plea to the Supreme Court for hearing.
Explaining that the Kerala High Court has passed an order that state police should register FIR based on the communications of the ED, he said the Kerala government has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against this order. Similarly, the Tamil Nadu government also filed a third-party appeal. He noted, however, that the Bombay High Court has pronounced a differing order on this issue. The bench asked the Additional Solicitor General S V Raju to inform whether the High Court could go ahead with hearing the matter despite the transfer petition in the Supreme Court, and accordingly adjourned the hearing to January 28.