Madras High Court takes up suo motu revision against discharge of T.N. Minister Periyasamy from disproportionate assets case

Madras High Court Justice N. Anand Venkatesh takes up suo motu revision against discharge of Rural Development Minister I. Periyasamy from disproportionate assets case. Fifth such case in one month, after acquittal of Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy, discharge of Revenue Minister K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu and former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam. Special court allowed plea for discharge after finding sanction to prosecute was obtained from Speaker, not Governor. DVAC argued Minister couldn't file discharge petition after trial commenced, but court relied on Supreme Court judgement to allow plea.

Continuing the crackdown against legislators, Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court has now taken up a suo motu revision against the discharge of Rural Development Minister I. Periyasamy too from a disproportionate assets case.

This is the fifth such suo motu case taken up by the judge in the last one month when he had acted against the acquittal of Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy and discharge of Revenue Minister K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu and former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam from similar corruption cases.

The present revision had been taken up against an order passed by an Additional Special Court for MP/MLA cases in Chennai on March 17, 2023. The special court had allowed a petition filed by Mr. Periyasamy this year and discharged him from a case booked by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) for having allotted a Tami Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) plot to former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s personal security officer (PSO) C. Ganesan, under the State government’s discretionary quota, when he served as Housing Minister in March 2008.

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According to the prosecution, Ganesan was deputed as the PSO to the former Chief Minister when he was serving as Inspector in the security wing of the Special Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (SB-CID). Then, he was residing at a TNHB quarters, along with his family, allotted to him in his capacity as a police officer. However, he made a false representation to the government claiming that his family was residing in a private residential accommodation on payment of exorbitant rent and sought allotment of a TNHB plot by considering his impeccable service.

His request was considered and a high-income group plot was allotted to him under the Mogappair Eri scheme after the papers were signed by the then Housing Secretary R. Sellamuthu and approved by the Minister on March 10, 2008. Even before receiving the provisional allotment order, Ganesan had reportedly entered into an agreement with a real estate developer named K. Padma for developing the plot and a power of attorney was also executed in her name. Therefore, she too was roped in as one of the accused in the case along with the Minister and the police officer.

Justice M. Nirmal Kumar of the High Court had in November 2022 dismissed petitions filed by the Minister as well as Ganesan to discharge them from the case. Thereafter, the Minister filed another plea for discharge before the special court for MP/MLA cases early this year on the ground that the sanction to prosecute him must have been obtained from the Governor and not the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. He also argued that former Speaker P. Dhanabal had failed to apply his mind to the facts of the case before granting sanction for the prosecution against him.