HC asks Tamil Nadu to free IAS officer for mining probe - Times of India

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday paid a price for delaying the appointment of IAS officer U Sahayam as special commissioner to probe mining-related irregularities in the state. The court imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on the government, and gave it just four days to relieve Sahayam from his present post to take up investigation into allocation of mining licences and violation of mining conditions.

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sathyanarayanan, pointing out that the court had on September 11 nominated Sahayam as court commissioner to probe the issue and file an interim report on October 28, said till this day the order had not been implemented. They also said the Supreme Court had rejected the state government's appeal against their order.

Rejecting the review plea of the government, and adjourning the case to December 22 for further hearing, the judges directed the government to provide all necessary facilities, including police security, for the officer to conduct his investigation.

The matter relates to a PIL filed by social activist K R 'Traffic' Ramaswamy seeking a CBI probe into mining contracts. On September 11, the court picked Sahayam, who during his tenure as district collector of Madurai had prepared a dossier exposing irregularities in granite mining to the tune of more than Rs 16,000 crore in Madurai region alone.

After the Supreme Court refused to entertain the state government's appeal, a review petition was filed in the high court itself. The government did not implement the order and relieve Sahayam as chairman of science city project in Chennai.

When the matter was taken up for hearing on Tuesday, Tamil Nadu advocate general A L Somayaji said there was no need for a special commissioner, as the state government itself had registered several FIRs and ordered further investigation into the issue.

In his petition, Ramaswamy sought a direction to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) among others to consider his representation for action against illegal miners in the state. The ED should initiate proceedings under money laundering provisions, he said. In its response, the ED informed the court that a case had been registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Olympus Granites Pvt. Ltd. which had Durai Dayanidhi, son of former Union minister M K Alagiri, as its director for a while, and a leading Madurai-based granite mining and polishing unit, PRP Exports.

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