The Madras High Court’s judgment that the CBI look into corruption charges against former Chief Minister and AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami in contract awarding in the state roads department was overturned by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The high court was urged to make its decision about the complaint against Palaniswami without being affected by previous remarks or rulings made in this case by a bench made up of Chief Justice N V Ramana, Justices Krishna Murari, and Hima Kohli.
The high court issued the judgment shifting the investigation into his charge of procurement irregularities to the CBI for a “fair, reasonable, and transparent inquiry” in October 2018 after taking notice of DMK leader R S Bharathi’s argument against Palaniswami.
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Mr. Palaniswami filed a petition with the Supreme Court challenging the postponed High Court ruling.
When speaking on behalf of the DMK leader, senior attorney Kapil Sibal stated he preferred an unbiased inquiry over a CBI probe.
“The (inquiry) report should be examined by the high court. Without getting into specifics, we ask that the high court review the reports that were presented there and, after doing so, issue the proper ruling. We discard any observations that won’t be relevant to a new analysis of the situation “explained the bench.
Mr. Palaniswami was accused of abusing his position to award different road building contracts to businesses controlled by his family and others, according to Mr. Bharathi. The latter filed the plea before the high court.
Mr. Palaniswami had argued that the high court had improperly issued the order without giving him notice or a chance to respond.
To file a complaint against the former chief minister, the DMK leader asked the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) for guidance. Mr. Palaniswami received a clean bill of health from the DVAC.
