Chennai
The state government has yet again extended the tenure of commission of inquiry formed in June 2011 by three months from April 22 vide a GO dated April 21, 2016.
As soon as AIADMK came to power, the government charged that ‘there has been certain alleged irregularities’ in the construction of the new secretariat complex at Omandurar Government Estate and formed the Commission of enquiry, now with Justice R Raghupathy as the member.
DMK sources said that it was strange that even around five years after its formation, the commission was unable to conclude its proceedings. Coming down heavily on the government, they said the commission was formed only to harass the DMK leadership and malign its image.
“Serious charges were levelled by vested interests against the DMK regime but now it has been proved that it is sheer political vendetta,” KS Radhakrishnan, DMK spokesperson, told DT Next.
Stating that there was no basis behind the formation of the commission, he said the government was totally unfair.
The proceedings of the commission created a storm in the state politics after it issued summons for the personal appearance of DMK President and former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.
However, after he moved a prayer to dispense with his appearance, the court allowed his counsel to represent him before the commission. A questionnaire was also sent to Karunanidhi in February 2015 as part of the proceedings.
Taking a potshot at the government on the rationale behind the formation of commission, DMK members said that charges of ‘alleged irregularities’ were nothing but hallucinations. And no complaints had been made.
Excess expenditure, irregularities causing loss to the exchequer, inordinate delay and deficiency in standards of construction were some of the allegations levelled against the DMK government.
Interestingly, the subject of constructing a new assembly complex has always created a storm in the state. During 2001-2006 AIADMK rule, the government proposed to build a new complex by demolishing Queen Mary’s College, which created a furore among the students and faculties. Following this, the government proposed to build the new complex at the Anna University complex, which was also stalled.
The new assembly-cum-secretariat complex, now converted into multi super specialty hospital is the brainchild of Karunanidhi. Announced in 2007 as a dream project and built at an outlay of Rs 1200 crore, the complex was inaugurated in March 2010 by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Even though a few sessions of the thirteenth assembly was held at this new complex at Omandurar Government Estate, the AIADMK even before the 2011 polls hinted that it would not function from here.
After returning to power in 2011, the AIADMK government moved back to Fort St George for ‘administrative reasons’ and formed the Commission to probe the alleged irregularities.
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