Chennai, Nov 10 (IANS) The Madras High Court on Monday expressed strong displeasure over the inordinate delay in granting sanction to prosecute two IAS officers accused in a Rs 98.25-crore corruption case linked to former AIADMK Minister S.P. Velumani.

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, who was hearing a contempt plea filed by anti-corruption organisation Arappor Iyakkam, questioned why “the wheels of prosecution grind very slowly” when the accused happen to be Indian Administrative Service officers.

The case, probed by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), pertains to alleged irregularities in awarding corporation contracts during Velumani’s tenure as Municipal Administration Minister.

The judge noted that the DVAC had completed its investigation as early as January 2024, yet had failed to secure a sanction to prosecute IAS officers K.S. Kandasamy and K. Vijaya Karthikeyan. He directed the agency to explain the reasons for the delay, especially when a sanction to prosecute Velumani himself was obtained from the Legislative Assembly Speaker on February 12, 2024.

Appearing for Arappor Iyakkam, advocate V. Suresh argued that the delay had caused unnecessary public expenditure. He pointed out that the government was forced to spend nearly Rs 30 lakh to translate about 12,000 pages of documents into English—a requirement introduced by the Centre only from October 2024. “If the sanction had been obtained earlier, this expense could have been avoided,” he contended. Justice Venkatesh concurred, observing that the DVAC “was duty-bound to list out reasons for not obtaining the sanction between January and October 2024.”

He further remarked that in many corruption cases, courts have to “prod the investigating agencies” at every stage—from filing FIRs to obtaining sanctions—before any real progress is made.

The court was informed that the DVAC sought a sanction from the Centre only on August 30, 2025, after the contempt petition was filed by Arappor Iyakkam’s Jayaram Venkatesan. The request was initially returned for lack of translated documents and was resubmitted on November 7, 2025, after translation at public cost.

When the judge enquired about the timeframe for the Centre to act on the sanction request, Additional Public Prosecutor E. Raj Thilak said the outer limit was three months and assured that he would gather explanations from all investigating officers involved since January 2024.

“The State shows speed in everything else; the same urgency must be shown in fighting corruption,” Justice Venkatesh said, warning that public faith in governance depends on swift and transparent action.

The court adjourned the contempt plea for further hearing.

–IANS

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