Madras HC slams DVAC for delay in prosecuting IAS officers in Velumani case

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has questioned the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) over the 19-month delay in seeking the union government's sanction to prosecute two IAS officers accused in the tender irregularities case against former minister SP Velumani.

The DVAC had registered a case alleging irregularities worth Rs 98.25 crore in awarding contracts for various works in Chennai and Coimbatore Corporation when Velumani served as the Minister for Municipal Administration in the previous AIADMK regime.

Subsequently, anti-graft organisation Arappor Iyakkam filed a contempt petition against the DVAC for failing to comply with an earlier court order directing it to file the charge sheet in the case.

When the matter came up for hearing before Justice N Anand Venkatesh, the DVAC informed the court that, as per the union government's new checklist, around 12,000 pages of case records had been translated into English and sent on November 7 to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which has acknowledged receipt. The agency said it is now awaiting sanction from the Centre.

Interrupting the submission, Justice N Anand Venkatesh noted that while a sanction had already been obtained in February 2024 to prosecute the former minister and four other officials, the DVAC had taken 19 months to seek a sanction against the two IAS officers — KS Kandasamy and K Vijayakarthikeyan. The judge then sought an explanation for such an inordinate delay.

Observing that the anti-corruption watchdog had not provided any justification so far, the judge remarked that with elections approaching, corruption cases involving ministers and officials must be given priority to uphold public faith in the system.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh directed the DVAC to file a detailed report explaining the delay in seeking sanction to prosecute the two IAS officers and adjourned the hearing to November 24.