Take action against Tiruvarur Collector for aiding tainted person: Madras HC to TN govt

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court directed the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu to take disciplinary action against the Tiruvarur Collector and presiding officer for aiding a panchayat ward member to hold public office despite the fact he filed a tainted affidavit during the election nomination.

Cases against politicians, dehors the fact they are in power or not, which party they belong to, will not reach any logical conclusion and the authorities are also trained in such a way to serve them, said a division bench of Justice R Subramanian and Justice G Arul Murugan, while directing to initiate action against the authorities for not acted promptly.

During the local body election held in 2019, a candidate Papa Subramaniyan contested for the Kudavasal panchayat ward member post and won the election.

On October 29, 2022, a resident D Sarathbabu from Kudavasal, Tiruvarur made a representation to the State Election Commission alleging that Subramaniyan suppressed his asset details and filed a tainted affidavit during the nomination.

Hence, he is liable to be prosecuted under section 26 (2A) (H) of Tamil Nadu Panchayat Election Rules, 1995, alleged Sarathbabu.

The State poll body, sent the representation to the district collector Tiruvarur to take action in this regard. As per the instruction from the Collector, the presiding officer, and project director, Tamil Nadu State Rural Livelihood Mission conducted an inquiry and found that Subramaniyan filed a tainted affidavit by suppressing his real asset details.

The report of the inquiry was sent to the Collector, however no action was taken against the elected candidate. Though a criminal complaint was given to the district police it refused to take action under section 177 of IPC as they don't have the power to prosecute without the sanction of the Collector.

Hence, Sarathbabu moved the court seeking to take action against the elected representative.

State election commission filed a counter stating that they do not have any power to initiate action against the elected candidate after the completion of the election.

The District Collector submitted that a private complaint was given against Subramaniyan.

It is sheer negligence and inaction on the part of authorities to allow a person, who has submitted a false declaration, to continue public office for an entire five years, the bench expressed dissatisfaction.

Though the politician is liable to be prosecuted under section 26 (2A) (H) of Tamil Nadu Panchayat Election rules, 1995, the authorities brushed away everything under the carpet and aided him in completing public office despite him filing a false affidavit, held the bench.

The court directed the Chief Secretary to take disciplinary action against the District Collector and the presiding officer and disposed of the case.