Advocate General P.S. Raman on Wednesday (March 25, 2026) informed the Madras High Court of having given a legal opinion that there’s no need for the State government to grant sanction to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) for registering a First Information Report (FIR) in connection with an alleged cash for jobs scam in Minister K.N. Nehru’s Municipal Administration and Water Supply department.
Appearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan, the A-G said, he had opined that it would be sufficient if the DVAC just informs the State government and not seek sanction, as required under Section 17 of Prevention of Corruption Act before commencing inquiry against public servants, when the High Court had ordered registration of the FIR.
The A-G said, he had also opined that in cases where constitutional courts had ordered registration of FIR in corruption cases, the government had no other option but to just record the fact. The submissions were made during the hearing of a contempt of court petition filed by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) Rajya Sabha member I.S. Inbadurai for non compliance of the court order.
It was while allowing a writ petition filed by the Member of Parliament (MP) that former Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Murugan had on February 20, 2026 ordered registration of the FIR “forthwith” regarding the alleged scam. Since the direction was not complied with, the Member of Parliament had filed the present contempt of court petition on February 26, 2026 against the then DVAC chief.
During the course of hearing of the contempt plea, the Bench led by Chief Justice Dharmadhikari expressed its displeasure over the DVAC not having registered the FIR till date despite a specific judicial direction. “As on date, the order is staring at you. You either comply with the order or take it on appeal. You cannot simply keep it in a limbo. Our order is very clear. You cannot frustrate the order,” Justice Murugan said.
However, the A-G replied that the State government had filed a review petition against that order as early as on February 26, 2026 but it was yet to get numbered. He said, the review had been filed on eight elaborately drafted grounds and that the petition was about to get numbered on Monday (March 23, 2026) but it could not be done because the case bundles had shifted from one section to another in the Registry.
He urged the court to grant him sometime for getting the review numbered and listed before the Divsion Bench. On his part, senior counsel N.R. Elango, representing the DVAC, said the agency was ready with its counter affidavit to the contempt plea and advocate Avinash Motwani, representing the MP, urged the court to take up the contempt petition as well as the review petition for hearing together.
After hearing all of them, the judges adjourned the matter for further hearing to April 20, 2026.
Published – March 25, 2026 08:20 pm IST
