HC rejects Minister’s appeal to gag NGO

Justice R Subramanian before whom the pleas moved by Velumani and nine other Government Contractors including Varadahan Infrastructure and KCP engineers dismissed their pleas after refusing to offer any relief as sought for.

The Minister and the other petitioners contended that Arappor Iyakkam, was making statements linking all of them in an alleged multi-crore scam without any basis. They wanted the court to not only gag Arappor Iyakkam as an interim measure but also direct the NGO to pay Rs.1 Crore as damages for making false statement degrading their reputation.

Velumani in his plea had submitted that Arappor Iyakkam convener Jayaram Venkatesan has been spreading false news through both the print and electronic media against him for the past one year. Moreover, Venkatesan had filed complaints with various authorities, alleging that he had misused his power and involved in large scale corruption by rigging Government tenders, forming cartels of contractors who would collude and prevent others from participating in the tenders, the minister said.

Stating that the complaints lodged against him by the NGO were unsubstantiated, frivolous and false, Velumani had contended that the allegations without any basis whatsoever were made to tarnish his reputation.