HC sets one-week deadline to TN to dissolve Regupathi Commission; Four week time to review other commissions of enquiry

CHENNAI:
Tamil Nadu government  has been given a one-week deadline by Madras High Court to suspend Justice R Regupathi Commission of Inquiry which was constituted to probe the alleged irregularities in the construction on spacious Omandoorar Government Estate to accommodate the State Assembly and the Secretariat by the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.The buildings have now been converted into multi-speciality government hospital.

Justice S M Subramaniam also directed the state to stop all further allotment of funds including the perquisites and Government facilities, to the commission, the oldest one which had been constituted in 2011, till the final disposal of the writ petitions.

Tamil Nadu State has also been directed to review the functionings of all the existing Commission of Inquiries and take a decision in respect of its further continuance, dissolving the same or fixing the time limit for the submission of report based on the legal principles settled by Supreme Court of India and the observations made by the High court, within a period of four weeks. Besides Raghupathy commission, the state has constituted four more commissions and they are Justices Singaravelu, Rajeswaran, Arumugaswamy and Aruna Jagadeesan Commissions.

Interestingly, Madras High Court has also ordered Raghupathy Commission and Judge R Reghupathi to hand over all the
records, reports of the Investigating Agencies, statements and the evidences collected, to the Tamil Nadu government, within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. On receipt of those documents, the State is directed to scrutinise the said reports of the Investigating Agencies, statements and evidences of Government Officials and files and if prima facie case is found, then institute criminal prosecutions against all the public servants, Government Officials and the persons concerned, under the Penal provisions of Law.

The State has also been directed to issue order to vacate respective Government Residential Bungalows allotted to
all the Commissions of Inquiry, within a period of one month from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. If at all, accommodation is required, the same shall be provided in the Government Office buildings suitably.

"Commissions of Inquiries are appointed on political reasons, however, its continuance, frequent and long
extension of the Commissions of Inquiries are granted by the State either to dilute the issues or to favour some persons or a group of persons. But the ultimate objectives set out for appointing the Commissions of Inquiries are not only diluted but completely frustrated," the court observed.

Factfile:
1. Regupathi Commission: Constituted in 2011 to probe the alleged irregularities in the construction on spacious Omandoorar Government Estate to accommodate the State Assembly and the Secretariat by the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. The govt spent rs 4.11 crore on it.
2. Singaravelu Commission: Constituted with regard to the death of one Ilavarasan in July, 2013. The commission is likely to submit its report by the end of this month. So far, Rs. 2.06 crore has been spent on this.
Justice Rajeswaran Committee: Constituted in February, 2017 to probe the cases relating to various agitations and
violent incidents during Jallikattu.  Rs. 1.47 crore has been spent.
3. Justice Arumugaswamy commission: The commission is enquiring into the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was formed in 2017.
4. Justice Aruna Jagadeesan commission: The Commission is probing the Thoothukudi firing incidents. It was formed during the later part of 2017 and early 2018.