Pandian, a noted lawyer and an ADMK activist said on Jaya TV on 26 Dec 2010 that there is a Supreme Court Judgment 1945 that the Supreme Court can not monitor the Enquiries of Central Agencies.Is this a fact?If so, by not contesting the orders of the Supreme Court the Center has a)allowed the SC to monitor the probe to put DMK in a fix or the Solicitor or b)General/Attorney General did not argue the case correctly.Will some body clear this issue?
Setting this aside, even within the legal ambit of the GDQ, TEHELKA’s investigation shows that many of the allotments in Karunanidhi’s tenure have violated the rule book. Many bureaucrats and their relatives have been given plots or flats under the category of “social worker”. Some of these last did social work when they were in college; many of them claim to be volunteers in such routine activity as helping in blood donation or eye camps. Many have issued certificates to themselves; some have acquired letters from the Lions and Rotary Clubs with vague endorsements. In other violations, the rules say that no one who has any other land or property in Tamil Nadu or any other capital city, in either their own or spouse or minor children’s name, can apply for GDQ allotments. TEHELKA found this is routinely violated.
The other brazen violation lies in the claim of “unblemished” service records as a qualification for allotment. When RTI activist V Gopalakrishnan sought a list of such bureaucrats, Additional Secretary S Solomon Raj said, “As no unblemished government servant certificates are issued, the question of furnishing a list of names does not arise.” The additional secretary also clarified that the home department didn’t have such a list. This is the phantom category under which many public servants like Jaffar Sait, 1986 batch IPS officer, now Inspector General of Police–Intelligence, got large allotments of land in prime locations. Why them more than hundreds of others? That’s a democratic question the chief minister will have to answer.
FLAT NOS: 1052 HIG, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 27 MARCH 2008
SIZE: NA PRICE: Rs. 79.86 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: NA
VIOLATIONS
Ganeshan is a trade union leader with the DMK and is close to Karunanidhi. He owns property in his as well as his wife’s name.
Brinda Nedunchezhiyan Wife of late Chezhiyan and daughter-in-law of Agriculture Minister Veerapandi Arumugam
PLOT NO: HIG B 3/14, MOGAPPAIR DATE: 13 MARCH 2008
SIZE: NA PRICE: Rs. 9.82 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 45-50 LAKH
VIOLATIONS
Allotted flat under Social worker category. The tehsildar of Salem issued her a certificate though he is not empowered to. The certificate says she “is a well-known social worker involved in social welfare activities such as president of Poolavari village panchayat, head of parent-teachers association, participating in educational programmes of many schools”.
Bharati Thennarasu
Widow of Sivagangai politician Thennarasu
FLAT NOS: S7, THIRUVANMIYUR EXTN
DATE: 26 AUGUST 2008
SIZE: 3,879 SQ FT PRICE: Rs. 79.13 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs.3.75 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
She was allotted the plot under the Social Worker category. An RTI application revealed that she had not been engaged in any kind of social work that would make her eligible for this category.
P Moorthy Madurai MLA
FLAT NOS: E2/6, MIG, MOGAPPAIR
DATE: 5 DECEMBER 2008
SIZE: NA PRICE: Rs. 72.5 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 4 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
Allotted under the Social Worker category on a certificate issued by the Lions Club. Owns several plots in his and his wife’s name.
Deepa
Daughter of Devaraj M, Private Secretary to the Chief Minister
FLAT NOS: 543, THIRUVANMIYUR, KAMARAJ NAGAR (PLOT ADJOINING SAIT’S AND SHANKAR’S)
DATE: 23 MAY 2008
SIZE: 4,466 SQ FT PRICE: Rs. 1.08 CRORE
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: NA
VIOLATIONS
Allotted plot under the Social Worker category but there’s no evidence to back it. Constructing a three-storey building involving a cost beyond the family’s known sources of income. Her husband owns another property in his name. Her plot is adjacent to the plots of IGP-Intelligence Jaffar Sait and Durga Shankar, son of the CM’s secretary.
PLOT NO: B2/5, THIRUVANMIYUR EXTENSION DATE: 11 NOVEMBER 2009
SIZE: 3,117 SQ FT PRICE: Rs. 68.54 LAKH
CURRENT MARKET PRICE: Rs. 3.2 CRORE
VIOLATIONS
Close relative of DMK supremo Karunanidhi and the Chairman of the School Fee Determination Committee. Little wonder then he was also the recipient of special favours while he was still a serving judge. At the time of the allotment, the judge owned a 50 percent share in an ancestral house at Thiruveezhimizhalai village. The judge had also sold a property he owned at Pazhavatthankattali village near Kumbakonam. The land was purchased in 1991, a house was constructed on it in 1992 and sold in 2009. He had also sold the landed property of his wife in 2009.
Reactions of allottes.
D Yashoda, Congress MLA, Kancheepuram
“I have done a lot of work for Dalits throughout Tamil Nadu, especially in Sriperumbudur and Chennai. I have helped them in getting pattas for their land, recommending their names for loans from banks, distributing cycles to Dalits on the birthdays of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.”
Jaffar Sait, IPS, IG-Intelligence
“Government agencies have already probed the matter. I am being governed by the conduct rules, so I should not talk to you about the issue. It is advisable that you seek a response from the Tamil Nadu government. I would like to add that if any defamation or liability arises out of your article, necessary legal action would be taken.”
P Moorthy, Madurai MLA
“I don’t know much about the certificate, I think I got the plot because I’m an MLA. I have done a lot of work in uplifting the people in villages of my constituency. That amounts to social work. I don’t need a social work certificate from the Lions Club but my friends, partners and I took the certificate anyway. ”
In a frank chat, Umashanker talks about how the government discretionary quota has been misused. Excerpts:
Why are bureaucrats, judges, former judges and politicians given housing plots in posh localities under government discretionary quota?
Who can refuse a good piece of land in Chennai city? It’s a way of rewarding people for good work done. No inquiry has been conducted in this matter so far. Discretionary quota is the prerogative of the government. After RTI came into existence, several activists are taking up the matter in court. Basically, there is no control mechanism or checks and balances. There is little transparency while awarding the GDQ — the plots are allotted without formal applications.
You were also allotted a plot in 2008 under the ‘unblemished government servant’ category. What happened to the allotment?
Yes, I was allotted a plot in Thiruvanmiyur Extension. Initial payment for the plot was Rs. 25 lakh. I never had that much money. So I requested the government to reduce the price. But there was no response. I did not want a house to compromise my integrity. So I never took possession. Later, in 2009, the government ordered a vigilance inquiry against me and cancelled the allotment. Frankly, I was not aware about the TNHB rules that bars a person having a plot, a flat or a house from claiming another plot.
Do you think the GDQ quota is a way of silencing people, buying them out?
Yes, it is a way of making you a part of the syndicate. Plots or flats are given to those civil servants, judges or relatives of the bureaucrats or politicians for complying with certain requirements. There is no procedure for IAS or IPS officers to get a land or plot or flat in a transparent manner. So everybody uses short cuts.
In this conversation, Radia is discussing the Justice Reghupathy case (where the Madras High Court judge alleged that a Union minister had tried to influence him, and Dayanidhi Maran immediately pointed fingers at A. Raja).
RKC:Us se kya hoga, he had nothing to do with that.
NR:Nahin, apparently, jo naam media ko circulate hue hain na 9’o clock news ke liye… WohA. Raja, Azhagiri…
RKC: Hmm…
NR:To phir Azhagiri drop hua because unhone kaha ki Azhagiri nahin hai, to Raja ka naam sab jagah hai.
RKC: Hmm.
NR: This one also came off the air, Rajdeep (Sardesai) he also told me the same thing; NewsX also told me the same thing, everyone is taking his name. In the evening I met Shivnath (Thukral), also from NDTV, sabne yehi bola ki it’s Raja’s…then I spoke to Times of India, because (I was) talking on my gas story, so they said that the name that is being discussed…has been told to the law minister…is Raja.
RKC: Hmm…I don’t know, I didn’t speak to anybody.
NR: Just letting you (know)…that his…there are very many people who just spread his name and it’s not true you know, that’s why I just called you….
The Madras High Court matter also featured in a conversation with Ratan Tata on July 7, 2009…
Ratan Tata: …I guess the only concern I have is that I understand that Maran is going hammer and tongs for Raja. And I hope Raja doesn’t trip or slip or…
NR: No, he hasn’t, because the chief justice has issued a statement that no minister called the high court judge.
RT: Oh, really?
NR: The Chief Justice of India has issued that statement. So that is clarified. And in any case that did not happen and Maran is made to look a little bit of a fool.
RT: Okay.
NR: It was in any case, it was actually the president of the bar association who said, ‘I know the minister’, in an open court and the judge said don’t bring the cabinet minister’s influence in my court.
RT: Okay.
NR: Raja had not called up for that at all. That’s got clarified.
RT: Okay.
Related:
The former judge of the Madras High Court, who alleged he was threatened by A Raja — Justice Reghupathy has spoken out saying he is neither scared or confused. Justice Reghupathy on Saturday (December 18) rubbished the earlier reports which said that he feared powerful interests now that the scandal has gone public.
Justice Reghupathy once again reiterated his stand saying that the letter written to the Justice Gokhale which was eventually forwarded to Justice Balakrishnan did mention A Raja’s name.
He said, “I have never been scared or confused. I maintain my silence on this issue. All materials are available and I don’t need to say anything further. The name of the minister (Raja) is there in the order itself. No further materials are required now.”
The statement questions former Chief Justice Balakrishnan’s claim, even as he maintained that the letter sent to him did not mention any minister’s name.
From the media reports subsequent to the press release by Justice Gokhale, it appears that I suppressed certain facts to save somebody. I never wanted to publish any confidential letter received by me in my capacity as Chief Justice of India. But as the contents of the letter by the Chief Justice of India to the Chief Justice of Madras High Court, and also the letters written by the Chief Justice of Madras High Court to CJI have already been made public through that Press Release, with much reluctance I am constrained to quote from my personal file, the full text of the report dated 08th August, 2009, given by the then Chief Justice of Madras High Court to me so that the matter be clarified.
In an embarrassment to former CJI K G Balakrishnan, Supreme Court Judge H L Gokhale on Tuesday (December 14) contradicted his claim that he was not aware that it was former Union Telecom Minister A Raja, who had tried to influence a Madras High Court judge in a criminal case.
In a statement, Justice Gokhale, who was the chief justice of the Madras High Court at that time, said that in his letter to Justice Balakrishnan, the then CJI, he had clearly referred to the name of Raja.
Justice Gokhale’s statement totally contradicts Justice Balakrishnan’s claim that there was no mention of any Union Minister in the report sent by Justice Gokhale, then High Court Chief Justice, on Justice S Reghupathi episode.
Justice Gokhale and Reghupathy are insistent that the letter mentioning Raja has been sent to the CJI and the Former CJI Balakrishnan denies it.
Best way to find out the Truth is to check the Courts Registry records and nail the culprit. before the letter/report goes missing a la Adarsh Society records.
Story:
Ousted telecom minister A Raja, who is prime accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case, finds himself in yet another controversy. Madras High Court judge Khalifullah has claimed that Raja threatened another judge of the court to influence his decision in a case being probed by the CBI.
A few months ago, Justice R Raghupathy of the Madras High Court had written to the then Chief Justice of India Balakrishnan that a minister, through his lawyer, had spoken to him on telephone seeking favours in the education scam case, which was being probed by the CBI. However, Justice Raghupathy had not mentioned the minister’s name at the time.
In his letter to the CJI, Justice Raghupathy wrote, “On 12.06.2009, at about 2 pm during lunch recess, while I was in my Chamber, HC, Madras…Chandramohan (Chairman, Bar Council, TN) handed over the his mobile phone saying that the union minister is on line to have a talk with me. Right away I discouraged such conduct of Chandramohan and told him that the case would be disposed off in accordance with the law, if listed before me.”
Former telecom minister and DMK MP A Raja on Tuesday denied trying to influence a Madras High Court judge in a criminal case. Speaking to CNN-IBN, Raja claimed that he neither spoke to any judge nor he authorised any other person to speak to a judge on his behalf.”You are reading it wrong. Of course my name has been mentioned some where in the judgement I have just gone through. I must mention that I have full faith in the judiciary. My own case is pending before the High Court for defamation. My interim petition was heard by a single judge bench. When it was heard by the single judge I was aggrieved as the order was passed against me.
You must be logged in to post a comment.