CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Lokayukta to hear the plea against ministers R Sakkarapani, I Periyasamy, and three IAS officers on a case of alleged corruption accusation in distributing Pongal gift hampers.

A litigant K R Jayagopi from Thiruvallur filed a petition in the Madras High Court (MHC) seeking to direct Lokayukta to entertain his complaint and conduct a detailed inquiry. The case was listed before Justice N Seshasayee.

In his litigation, he stated that the Tamil Nadu government in 2022 had provided a gift hamper for the Pongal festival containing 21 commodities including one kilogram of rice, jaggery, rava, wheat flour, 500 grams of urad dal, moong dal, and one piece of sugarcane, etc to the 2.15 crore ration card holders in the State.

The petitioner claimed that low-quality commodities were purchased at exorbitant prices to swindle a huge amount of public money to the tune of Rs.111.80 crore to Rs.251.55 crore.

His complaint was rejected by the Lokayukta as it could not interfere with commercial transactions. However, the litigant moved MHC challenging the rejection of his complaint.