CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Union government to complete the sanction process to prosecute IAS officers KS Kandasamy and K Vijayakarthikeyan within two months in connection with the alleged Rs 98.25-crore tender irregularities case involving the former minister from AIADMK, SP Velumani.

Joint Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Sushil Kumar Patel appeared via video conferencing in the hearing before Justice N Anand Venkatesh.

When asked about the delay in the sanction process, Patel submitted that one document consisted of 34,000 pages and another contained 29,000 pages, and that time was required to browse through them.

He stated that the documents had been forwarded to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), whose response was expected next week, after which they would be sent to the Prime Minister’s Office for sanction to prosecute.

He said the process would take two months, assured that there would be no further delay, and promised that priority would be given to completing it.

The court directed the Union government to file an affidavit detailing the steps taken since November 2025 in the sanction process against the officials.

The hearing was adjourned to November 12.

During the previous AIADMK regime, when SP Velumani served as the Minister for Municipal Administration, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption filed a case alleging irregularities worth Rs 98.25 crore in awarding various contracts in the Chennai and Coimbatore Corporations.

A contempt petition had been filed by Arappor Iyakkam against the DVAC for failing to comply with an earlier court order directing the department to file a chargesheet in the case.