MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has recently reserved orders on a plea filed by a man seeking CBI probe against a former collector, N Venkatachalam, who obtained voluntary retirement from service (VRS) two years ago, though an inquiry was pending against him before the DVAC.
The petitioner AR Gokulakrishnan of Dindigul alleged that Venkatachalam purchased several immovable properties in his wife’s name by misusing his power and reducing the guideline value of the properties. The total amount spent by him for purchasing or developing the properties was around Rs 20 crore, which is much beyond his yearly income sources, Gokulakrishnan added.
Though an inquiry was pending before the DVAC in this regard, Venkatachalam was granted voluntary retirement by the state government in November 2024, without him obtaining the mandatory ‘no objection certificate’ from the DVAC, he alleged. He requested the court to cancel the VRS order and order a CBI probe into his complaint against the retired officer.
Through its status report, the DVAC informed the court that the ex-collector and his wife have nearly 41 bank accounts, an unregistered finance company and several immovable properties including 13.66 acres of agricultural lands and 25,974 sq ft of house properties. Since steps are underway to obtain further details and scrutinise the income, transactions, receipts, among others, the DVAC requested further time to complete its inquiry.
Hearing the plea, Justice B Pugalendhi noted that the former collector had submitted his VRS application shortly after the vigilance officials submitted their factual verification report on the petitioner’s complaint, strengthening the petitioner’s allegations of collusion between the officials and the ex-collector.
This, along with the manner in which the VRS was granted and the delay in the DVAC’s inquiry, makes out a prima facie case warranting CBI probe, the judge added.
However, to ascertain if the VRS was granted as per procedure, he directed the government to furnish the files pertaining to Venkatachalam’s VRS application and reserved orders in the case.
