A regime which had not removed the portraits of their leader on whom the special court in Bangalore imposed a fine of Rs.100 crore was unashamed of the courts repeatedly imposing penalties for non-compliance of court orders, noted DMK President Kalaignar.
Replying to a question on the Madras High Court imposing penalty of Rs.10,000 on the ADMK government, Kalaignar said even after the Bangalore special court sentenced their ‘Amma’ to ten years’ imprisonment and imposed fine of Rs.100 crore, they had not removed her portraits from government offices. So they were not ashamed of the court imposing penalty on the government.
The High Court of Madras has imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 on the Tamil Nadu government for not filing counter affidavits in response to two PILs pertaining to the installation of CCTV cameras in police stations.
The bench comprising of Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice Sathyanarayanan imposed a fine of Rs. 5,000 each on the State for not replying to two separate PILs filed by advocate Prakash Raj and A. Narayanan of Change India Trust on the same issue even after one month, it was reported.
The State has been asked to deposit the money in Mediation and Conciliation Centre attached to the High Court. It also said that the State can deposit the money and then file the counter affidavits within two weeks.
The petitioners had made a plea that the police stations should have CCTV cameras so that torture and human rights violation during investigation is checked.
Earlier, the court had issued a notice to the State government on a PIL seeking installation of CCTV cameras in all police stations in the State.
The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sathyanarayanan, admitting the PIL of Vengai I Prakash Raj, asked the government to file its response within four weeks. They then adjourned the matter to December 16 for further hearing.
In his PIL, Prakash Raj asked as to why police stations could not install CCTV cameras while all banks, ATMs, internet cafes and even the government’s registration department were under CCTV watch.
He cited three incidents : January 8, in Neelankarai police station where a minor suffered bullet injuries under mysterious circumstances; August 10, when a female suspect was allegedly raped and tortured in custody by the Udumalpet police; and October 15, when a Muslim youth was shot dead by a sub-inspector in ‘self-defence’ inside a police station Ramanathapuram district.
He said such custodial excesses would come down, and police too would have proof to repudiate false allegations if they had CCTV footage of station works.
Transport dept. goes to the dogs: Replying to a question on the Supreme Court on Dec 13 setting aside the ‘collusive’ contracts entered into by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) with some advertising companies for the installation of bus shelters in Chennai, Kalaignar said this was one among the several irregularities of the ADMK regime.
Some private advertisement agencies entered into contact with the Metropolitan Transport Corporation for setting up bus shelters and putting up their ads, against which a PIL was filed in the Madras High Court which set aside the contracts. This was challenged by some ad agencies in the Supreme Court.
A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and U.U. Lalit dismissed a batch of appeals filed by M/s Nova Ads and others against a Madras High Court judgment. “The whole action, as we perceive, is a fiscal pollution. It is, if we allow ourselves to say so, an acid rain on finance that can really crumble and collapse the financial health of the Corporation, which, in a democracy, is impermissible. It compels us to say that the skilfully designed scheme has the potentiality to bring in ruination in an orderly society governed by law; as if the appellants are determined to treat the proceeding in a court equivalent to experimentation in a laboratory or an adventure in a garden that has no boundary,” the Bench said.
Justice Misra said, “The contracts entered into by the appellants with MTC cannot be sustained and they are accordingly annulled. It is directed that MTC shall take over the management of the bus shelters forthwith and shall proceed to deal with them for all purposes by taking recourse to procedure of tender or auction which should be fair and transparent. The appellants shall pay a cost of Rs. 5 lakh each to the Corporation within a period of eight weeks from Friday.”
The Bench said, “The present batch of appeals characterises series of collusive concessions, maladroit misrepresentations, designed negotiations and infusion of fraud on financial morality; and further epitomises how statutory Corporations can cultivate the proclivity to give indecent burial to their interests, which is fundamentally collective interest that the Corporations are duty bound to protect, preserve and assert for. It is clear as a noon day that MTC, a wing of the State transport department, transgressed its powers, and we are inclined to think deliberately. When a power had not been conferred on MTC to do so and it exercises that power under the cloak of a power conferred, it really paved the path of deviance. The appellants could not have legitimately entered into a settlement with MTC. It could not have entered into an agreement with the State undertaking.”
The Bench also said, “A public authority like MTC is not supposed to enter into this kind of private negotiations without calling for a tender, especially while entering into a contract for the purpose of providing bus shelters. It is well settled in law that wherever a contract is to be awarded or a licence is sought to be given, it is obligatory on the part of the public authority to adopt a transparent and fair method.”
Kalaignar, the five-time Chief Minister, said the Supreme Court could not pass much worse comments about the state of TN Transport department. Though a charge was leveled against the same Minister with evidence, due to some ‘reasons’, either the former or the present Chief Minister did not pay any heed.
‘Advisor’ regime: Asked about the continuing practice of posting ‘advisors’, Kalaignar sarcastically said that there was a Chief Minister for the State above whom there was on ‘Advisor’ in the name of ‘People’s Chief Minister’, an ‘Advisor’ each above the Chief Secretary and the DGP.
Now another advisor has been posted. This time, the post has been created in the Water Resources Organisation of the Public Works Department (PWD). R. Emaraj, former chief engineer and engineer-in-chief of the WRO, has been appointed for the post.
Emaraj, who retired from service last month, will hold the post for one year. An order to this effect was issued recently, an official says, adding that the latest instance is not an extension of service.
About seven months ago, R. Gopalakrishnan, former Chief Engineer in charge of the buildings wing of the PWD, completed two years of extended service.
At present, there are two advisers in the State government, both of whom retired from service. Sheela Balakrishnan belonged to Indian Administrative Service and functioned as Chief Secretary, while K. Ramanujam was from the Indian Police Service and a former Director General of Police.
Kalaignar said the appointment of Emaraj had been made at a time when many of his juniors were expecting to be posted to the post hitherto held by the official. Administrative section had been assigned to him. The reason for his posting is said to be that he is a close relative of Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam. He is also said to be an expert in ‘handling’ the department, he said sarcastically. It was said that as no one was posted as Chief Engineer for Water Resources Organisation, tenders could not be issued for development works for Rs.500 crore, Kalaignar said.
Replying to a question on the Madras High Court imposing penalty of Rs.10,000 on the ADMK government, Kalaignar said even after the Bangalore special court sentenced their ‘Amma’ to ten years’ imprisonment and imposed fine of Rs.100 crore, they had not removed her portraits from government offices. So they were not ashamed of the court imposing penalty on the government.
The High Court of Madras has imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 on the Tamil Nadu government for not filing counter affidavits in response to two PILs pertaining to the installation of CCTV cameras in police stations.
The bench comprising of Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice Sathyanarayanan imposed a fine of Rs. 5,000 each on the State for not replying to two separate PILs filed by advocate Prakash Raj and A. Narayanan of Change India Trust on the same issue even after one month, it was reported.
The State has been asked to deposit the money in Mediation and Conciliation Centre attached to the High Court. It also said that the State can deposit the money and then file the counter affidavits within two weeks.
The petitioners had made a plea that the police stations should have CCTV cameras so that torture and human rights violation during investigation is checked.
Earlier, the court had issued a notice to the State government on a PIL seeking installation of CCTV cameras in all police stations in the State.
The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sathyanarayanan, admitting the PIL of Vengai I Prakash Raj, asked the government to file its response within four weeks. They then adjourned the matter to December 16 for further hearing.
In his PIL, Prakash Raj asked as to why police stations could not install CCTV cameras while all banks, ATMs, internet cafes and even the government’s registration department were under CCTV watch.
He cited three incidents : January 8, in Neelankarai police station where a minor suffered bullet injuries under mysterious circumstances; August 10, when a female suspect was allegedly raped and tortured in custody by the Udumalpet police; and October 15, when a Muslim youth was shot dead by a sub-inspector in ‘self-defence’ inside a police station Ramanathapuram district.
He said such custodial excesses would come down, and police too would have proof to repudiate false allegations if they had CCTV footage of station works.
Transport dept. goes to the dogs: Replying to a question on the Supreme Court on Dec 13 setting aside the ‘collusive’ contracts entered into by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) with some advertising companies for the installation of bus shelters in Chennai, Kalaignar said this was one among the several irregularities of the ADMK regime.
Some private advertisement agencies entered into contact with the Metropolitan Transport Corporation for setting up bus shelters and putting up their ads, against which a PIL was filed in the Madras High Court which set aside the contracts. This was challenged by some ad agencies in the Supreme Court.
A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and U.U. Lalit dismissed a batch of appeals filed by M/s Nova Ads and others against a Madras High Court judgment. “The whole action, as we perceive, is a fiscal pollution. It is, if we allow ourselves to say so, an acid rain on finance that can really crumble and collapse the financial health of the Corporation, which, in a democracy, is impermissible. It compels us to say that the skilfully designed scheme has the potentiality to bring in ruination in an orderly society governed by law; as if the appellants are determined to treat the proceeding in a court equivalent to experimentation in a laboratory or an adventure in a garden that has no boundary,” the Bench said.
Justice Misra said, “The contracts entered into by the appellants with MTC cannot be sustained and they are accordingly annulled. It is directed that MTC shall take over the management of the bus shelters forthwith and shall proceed to deal with them for all purposes by taking recourse to procedure of tender or auction which should be fair and transparent. The appellants shall pay a cost of Rs. 5 lakh each to the Corporation within a period of eight weeks from Friday.”
The Bench said, “The present batch of appeals characterises series of collusive concessions, maladroit misrepresentations, designed negotiations and infusion of fraud on financial morality; and further epitomises how statutory Corporations can cultivate the proclivity to give indecent burial to their interests, which is fundamentally collective interest that the Corporations are duty bound to protect, preserve and assert for. It is clear as a noon day that MTC, a wing of the State transport department, transgressed its powers, and we are inclined to think deliberately. When a power had not been conferred on MTC to do so and it exercises that power under the cloak of a power conferred, it really paved the path of deviance. The appellants could not have legitimately entered into a settlement with MTC. It could not have entered into an agreement with the State undertaking.”
The Bench also said, “A public authority like MTC is not supposed to enter into this kind of private negotiations without calling for a tender, especially while entering into a contract for the purpose of providing bus shelters. It is well settled in law that wherever a contract is to be awarded or a licence is sought to be given, it is obligatory on the part of the public authority to adopt a transparent and fair method.”
Kalaignar, the five-time Chief Minister, said the Supreme Court could not pass much worse comments about the state of TN Transport department. Though a charge was leveled against the same Minister with evidence, due to some ‘reasons’, either the former or the present Chief Minister did not pay any heed.
‘Advisor’ regime: Asked about the continuing practice of posting ‘advisors’, Kalaignar sarcastically said that there was a Chief Minister for the State above whom there was on ‘Advisor’ in the name of ‘People’s Chief Minister’, an ‘Advisor’ each above the Chief Secretary and the DGP.
Now another advisor has been posted. This time, the post has been created in the Water Resources Organisation of the Public Works Department (PWD). R. Emaraj, former chief engineer and engineer-in-chief of the WRO, has been appointed for the post.
Emaraj, who retired from service last month, will hold the post for one year. An order to this effect was issued recently, an official says, adding that the latest instance is not an extension of service.
About seven months ago, R. Gopalakrishnan, former Chief Engineer in charge of the buildings wing of the PWD, completed two years of extended service.
At present, there are two advisers in the State government, both of whom retired from service. Sheela Balakrishnan belonged to Indian Administrative Service and functioned as Chief Secretary, while K. Ramanujam was from the Indian Police Service and a former Director General of Police.
Kalaignar said the appointment of Emaraj had been made at a time when many of his juniors were expecting to be posted to the post hitherto held by the official. Administrative section had been assigned to him. The reason for his posting is said to be that he is a close relative of Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam. He is also said to be an expert in ‘handling’ the department, he said sarcastically. It was said that as no one was posted as Chief Engineer for Water Resources Organisation, tenders could not be issued for development works for Rs.500 crore, Kalaignar said.
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