Court reserves orders on cases filed by former minister S.P. Velumani to quash FIRs against him

The former AIADMK minister has been accused of irregularities in the awarding of corporation contracts during his tenure; the Madras High Court has deferred its verdict in the case

The Madras High Court on Tuesday reserved orders on petitions filed by former Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) to quash two First Information Reports (FIRs) registered against him for alleged irregularities in the award of corporation contracts during his tenure.

Justices P.N. Prakash and RMT Teekaa Raman deferred their verdict after hearing the arguments advanced by senior counsel S.V. Raju for the former minister and Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram as well as State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohammed Jinnah for the State government and the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC).

Senior counsel N.R. Elango argued for the, complainant R.S. Bharathi of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and advocate V. Suresh represented Jayaram Venkatesan of Arappor Iyakkam, the other complainant.

Winding up his arguments at the close of the proceedings, Mr. Suresh said, his client’s complaint was fully supported by documentary evidence. He claimed that those documents had been obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act of 2005 and submitted to the DVAC. The documents revealed collusion in the awarding of tenders and said that multiple tenderers had submitted their tenders from the same Internet Protocol (IP) address and on the same day. The counsel contended that the tenderers had formed a cartel and ensured that the contracts got awarded only to identified companies. He alleged the former minister was also a part of the cartel.