Notice to Centre, State over extension to DGP Rajendran
The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Thursday issued notices to Central and State government authorities including Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Tamil Nadu Secretariat office, Director General of Police (DGP), UPSC, former Chief Secretary P Rama Mohana Rao, General Secretary of AMMK, VK Sasikala and Department of Income Tax in a plea seeking to quash a Government Order (GO) that granted extension of the DGP TK Rajendran.
By : migrator
Update: 2018-12-21 03:07 GMT
Madurai
A public interest litigation petition filed by Kathiresan of Meenambalpuram, Madurai came up for hearing before a division bench of Justices KK Sasidharan and PD Audikesavalu. The petitioner claimed that the DGP TK Rajendran, who formerly was the Commissioner of Police, Chennai, had been facing allegations that he was involved in the gutkha scam.
The DGP was alleged to have collected a bribe to allow the sale of gutkha, which was banned by the government. The CBI and officers from Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption had done a probe on the scam.
In the wake of these allegations, the Department of Income Tax in a letter to former DGP Ashok Kumar sought action against Rajendran, who was later promoted to DGP. Moreover, the State, in its order dated June 30, 2017, extended his service for a period of two years.
When the CBI probe gained momentum, the former Chief Secretary filed an affidavit before the court citing that a report made by the Income Tax Department concerning the gutkha scam went missing.
When the Income Tax officials conducted a raid in former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s residence in November last year, several documents that showed the DGP’s involvement in the scam were seized from a room used by Sasikala, the close aide of Jayalalithaa. Citing these, the petitioner questioned on what basis the documents found a place in Sasikala’s room.
The petitioner said such documents were concealed with intent to retain Rajendran in the position. Therefore, the petitioner sought the bench to quash the GO against the extension of Rajendran’s service and asked to form a special CBI team to find out about other officials involved in the scam.
On hearing the petition, the bench posted the case to further hearing onJanuary 2, 2019.
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