While he was in the opposition, DMK leader M.K. Stalin would often say that once elected to power, his government would jail corrupt ministers of the AIADMK regime. It was not mere political rhetoric. In July 2018 and December 2020, Mr. Stalin met the then Tamil Nadu Governor, Banwarilal Purohit, seeking prosecution of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and others. On the latter occasion, he submitted a 98-page memorandum listing specific charges of corruption between 2016 and 2020 against Mr. Palaniswami, his Deputy O. Panneerselvam, and Ministers S.P. Velumani, P. Thangamani, R. Kamaraj, C. Vijayabaskar, R.B. Udhayakumar, and D. Jayakumar – in that order. Mr. Stalin said then that under Section 17(A) of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Governor could himself take action against them. Before this, a few DMK leaders filed multiple complaints and petitions before law-enforcing agencies and courts to proceed against top AIADMK leaders. Citing the representations to the Governor, the DMK in its Assembly election manifesto promised to “establish special courts to handle such corruption cases.”
With Mr. Stalin heading the government for over a year, there are calls for a status check on the promise to battle corruption. The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has so far gone after six former ministers: Mr. Velumani, Mr. Thangamani, Mr. C. Vijayabaskar, M.R. Vijayabhaskar, K.C. Veeramani and K.P. Anbalagan. The agency has not found it necessary to arrest anyone. There is no tangible action against the others even though Mr. Stalin believed he was levelling cogent allegations of serious and cognisable criminal offences against them. “A bare reading of these allegations would reveal and establish prima facie cases of acts of corruption, accumulation of assets disproportionate to known sources of income and other offences..., unlawfully influencing commercial tenders..., misappropriation of public funds, criminal breach of trust as a public servant and other offences under the Indian Penal Code 1860, etc.,” he had told the Governor 18 months ago.
Observers point out that even a day before the Assembly polls, the DMK had sent a complaint to the Governor accusing Mr. Palaniswami, Mr. Panneerselvam and Mr. Udhayakumar of alienating 10.5 acres of government land in Chennai at a throwaway rate to a real estate developer causing an estimated ₹500 crore loss to the exchequer. What the DMK government has done in this case is unclear. There is no word on the formation of the special courts.
Contrasting this with 1996 when the DMK captured power on an anti-corruption wave, observers recall how former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was arrested within six months and three special courts were established to try 46 cases of corruption against her, former ministers, and IAS and IPS officers. It was this action that led to Jayalalithaa being unseated as Chief Minister in 2001 and 2014.
Last November, the DVAC said it found evidence to arraign as co-accused 12 officials in the case registered against Mr. Velumani. Anti-corruption activists and political parties have asked why the government has not sanctioned their prosecution yet.
The government is also facing criticism for using different yardsticks in dealing with “corrupt” officials. It has arrested some while merely transferring a Deputy Transport Commissioner from whose office the DVAC seized ₹35 lakh of unaccounted cash. Also, a section is disillusioned at the presence of some members in the Stalin cabinet against whom the DMK had previously initiated cases or demanded prosecution on corruption charges. Perhaps, it is time for the Chief Minister to walk the talk.
sureshkumar.d@thehindu.co.in
