Madras High Court. File
| Photo Credit: K. Pichumani
Corruption cases involving sitting as well as former Ministers, other legislators, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, and such other individuals must not be allowed to get “ambushed” by long-drawn procedures and instead, they must be dealt with as expeditiously as possible to gain public confidence on the criminal justice system, the Madras High Court observed on Monday (October 13, 2025).
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh made the observations in his interim order after expressing dismay over the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) not having been able to start the trial in a case registered in 2021 for alleged irregularities to the tune of ₹98.25 crore in the award of corporation contracts during the tenure of former AIADMK Minister S.P. Velumani between 2014 and 2018.
Dealing with a contempt of court petition filed by Jayaram Venkatesan of anti-corruption organisation Arappor Iyakkam against the DVAC officials, the judge concurred with the petitioner’s counsel V. Suresh that the conduct of the officials was certainly contumacious. Nevertheless, to give them one more opportunity, the judge adjourned the hearing on the contempt plea to November 10, 2025.
When Additional Public Prosecutor E. Raj Thilak assured the court that the DVAC would translate all vernacular documents in English within four weeks and then forward a proposal to the Centre for granting sanction to prosecute two IAS officers, the judge directed him to report progress on the next date of hearing and also submit an explanation as to why the officers concerned should not be punished.
The judge said, if the DVAC had faced any issues in filing the charge-sheets within the time stipulated by him in April 2024, it ought to have filed an appropriate application seeking extension of time. However, it had miserably failed to file any such application. Further, even after the filing of the present contempt plea, the investigating agency had failed to show any substantial progress in the matter, he said.
He refused to accept the DVAC’s explanation that it had, indeed, forwarded a proposal to the Centre for granting sanction to prosecute two IAS officers but the proposal was returned for want of translated copies of the supporting documents in vernacular language. The judge said, the DVAC, being a specialised agency probing only corruption cases, ought to have been aware of such requirements.
He said, the requirement of submitting translated copies of vernacular documents came into force from October 18, 2024, itself and hence, the DVAC could not cite it as an excuse even after a year. “This court finds that the respondent has not complied with the directions given by this court in letter and spirit… The conduct on the part of the respondent certainly hovers around contumacious conduct,” the judge wrote.
Published – October 13, 2025 05:19 pm IST
