Embezzlement in village fund: TN govt told to file ATR

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government was told to file an Action Taken Report (ATR) in connection with the complaint filed against Thenmelpakkam gram panchayat, Chengalpattu district regarding Rs 4 crore embezzlement in the village administration fund.

Councillors of Thenmelpakkam gram panchayat S Vivek and A Shibana filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Madras High Court alleging that Rs 4,01,02,886 (Four crore and one lakh and two thousand and eight hundred and eighty six rupees) was spent for mini motor maintenance, pipeline repair work, street light maintenance, office expenses, water supply maintenance and drainage cleaning works from the period of October, 2021 to March, 2022 and the money was swindled by the gram panchayat administration in an unbelievable manner by making false entries in the panchayat records.

The petitioner contended that since there has been a huge malpractice in the fund, the complaint was sent to the District Collector-Chengalpattu, Director-DVAC, Secretary-Rural Development and Panchayat Raj seeking an action against the Thenmelpakkam gram panchayat President E Govindarajan and Vice President H Santhakumari on May 30, 2022, but no action was taken.

When the Public Interest Litigation came up for hearing before acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy, Pleader B Muthukumar informed that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had sent a letter to the government seeking approval to investigate the plaint and the District Collector, Chengalpattu is working on to dissolve the Thenmelpakkam gram panchayat President and Vice President posts.

Expressing displeasure over the delay in taking action even after filing the complaint almost a year ago, the division bench ordered the prosecution to file an Action Taken Report (ATR) on the complaint and adjourned the hearing for two weeks.