State Law Minister S Reghupathy questioned Raj Bhavan’s assertion and said due communication has been done to the Governor’s office on the matter.
Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan on Thursday contested the claims of the DMK government on the matter of according sanction to prosecute former Ministers in the previous AIADMK regime. State Law Minister S Reghupathy questioned Raj Bhavan’s assertion and said due communication has been done to the Governor’s office on the matter.
A day after Regupathy wrote to Governor RN Ravi requesting him that he should ‘not delay any further’ his sanction to prosecute former AIADMK ministers and clear the 13 Bills pending with him for his assent, the Governor’s office reacted.
An official Raj Bhavan release, with a heading ‘the facts are as under’ said: “With respect to B V Ramanaa @ B Venkat Ramanaa and Dr C Vijaya Baskar, the cases have been investigated by the CBI and these are under legal examination.” With regards to the DVAC’s (Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption) case against K C Veeramani, “the same could not be acted upon due to the fact that the State government has to submit a duly authenticated copy of the investigation report for further action.” The statement said Raj Bhavan has not received any reference or request in respect of M R Vijaya Bhaskar from the State government.
All the persons named in the statement had been Ministers in the AIADMK government. There was no reference in the press release on the pending Bills flagged by the Tamil Nadu government. The Raj Bhavan’s statement referred to ‘media reports’ on the letter of the Law Minister on the matter.
Responding, Reghupathy expressed ‘shock’ over the Raj Bhavan statement.
“The fact is, the entire file pertaining to Veeramani has been sent to the Governor on September 12, 2022. It contained the DVAC’s final investigation report and the Vigilance Commission’s recommendation,” he said in a statement. Raj Bhavan had acknowledged receiving the file, he added.
“It is not known why the Governor, who was so quick to write (to CM MK Stalin) on the dismissal of Minister V Senthil Balaji, has kept on pending his consent for allowing a judicial probe in the corruption case,” against the AIADMK leaders, he said.
Same was the case with M R Vijaya Bhaskar, as the file regarding him had been sent to the Governor on May 15, the minister added. Reghupathy charged Ravi with doing “party politics work” and not discharging those related to the Constitution. He wondered if the Raj Bhavan was under the ‘control’ of Ravi or not. He added that he has again written to the governor today seeking his sanction to prosecute the said former ministers.
On July 5, Regupathy had said no further steps could be taken in the case involving the Gutkha scam since no reply has been received from the Raj Bhavan on CBI’s request for sanction to prosecute C Vijayabaskar and B V Ramana.
The DVAC had sought sanction to prosecute KC Veeramani and M R Vijayabhaskar. Regupathy had further said in his letter that “Governor Ravi has so far not given prosecution sanction –in any cases involving graft allegations against former AIADMK Ministers– to facilitate commencement of trial.” Following Ravi’s backtracked move to dismiss Minister Senthil Balaji, Stalin, in his letter to the Governor had said sanction has not been given yet by Raj Bhavan to prosecute former AIADMK Ministers.
Balaji, arrested last month by the Enforcement Directorate in the cash for jobs scam, is continuing in the TN Cabinet as a Minister without portfolio.
