HC to decide on Velumani’s plea to quash DVAC cases on Tuesday

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Monday directed the registry to list a petition filed by former Local Administration (LA) Minister SP Velumani to quash two cases filed against him by the DVAC on charges of awarding Chennai and Coimbatore corporations’ tenders illegally.

The first bench comprising Acting Chief Justice M Duraiswamy and Justice K Sunder Mohan passed the direction after the State Public Prosecutor (PP) Hasan Mohammed Jinnah mentioned before the bench in this regard.

The PP pointed out that though the former CJ Munishwar Nath Bhandari on September 9 posted the matter for September 19 to decide on the petition filed by Velumani, the case has not been listed on Monday.

Recording the submissions, the ACJ agreed to take the case on Tuesday. On September 9, the CJ bench extended the interim stay restraining the DVAC from filing its final inquiry report against Velumani till September 19.

On September 9, the State wanted to adjourn the case citing the pendency of the appeal before the Supreme Court against the decision of High Court to list Velumani’s petition before a division bench instead of a court having criminal jurisdiction or the special court trying MPs and MLAs.

The State had also opposed the appearance of Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju for Velumani. However, the High Court rejected the objection on the ground that the ASG got the due approval from the Union government to represent Velumani.

The former AIADMK minister challenged the two cases booked by DVAC in August 2021 for allegedly amassing several hundred crores of money by awarding the tenders of Coimbatore and Chennai City Corporations to the companies owned by his family members and friends between 2014 and 2021 - when Velumani was the LA minister.