Speaker M. Appavu on Monday withdrew a writ petition filed by him last year, in his capacity as a former MLA, accusing the then Municipal Administration and Rural Development Minister S.P. Velumani of having indulged in several irregularities in replacing 23.72 lakh old streetlights with LED lamps in various village panchayats across the State.
HC Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy permitted him to withdraw the writ petition along with a subsequent petition that was also filed last year challenging a 2018 Government Order, which mandates the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to obtain the Public Department Secretary’s prior approval before probing into corruption complaints lodged against ministers.
In the second writ petition, Mr. Appavu said the Governor should be the competent authority to grant approval for probing complaints made against Ministers and not the Public Secretary, who acts as per the directions of the Cabinet. When both the cases were listed together for hearing on Monday, an advocate representing the petitioner’s counsel stated that he wished to withdraw the cases.
