JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus calling for the records of the impugned order passed by the first respondent in R.No.3 of 2022 dated 02.03.2022 and quash the same and consequently direct the first respondent to take the complaint on record and conduct a detailed enquiry by issuing notice to all respondents by following the due process of law laid under the Tamil Nadu Lokayukta Act 2018 in letter and spirit.)

1. The petitioner herein challenges the order of the Lokayukta, the first respondent herein, dated 02.03.2022, passed in R.No.3 of 2022, by which it refuses to take cognizance of the complaint which the petitioner had preferred against respondents 2 to 6.

2. The case of the petitioner is that:

(a) The petitioner had preferred a complaint to the Lokayukta, alleging corruption, acts of malfeasance and impropriety committed by respondents 2 to 6 vis-a-vis the gift hampers distributed to the under privileged citizens throughout the State, during Pongal festival in January, 2022. As per the announcement made by the Hon'ble Chief Minister, it was to benefit around 2.10 crore ration card holders at the cost of Rs.1,296.88 crores of public money.

(b)The gift hamper was to contain 21 food items, and they are as follows:

1 1 kg. 2 Jaggery 1 kg 3 Cashew 50 grams 4 Dry Grapes 50 grams 5 Cardamom 10 grams 6 Moong Dal 500 grams 7 Ghee 100 grams 8 Turmeric Powder 100 grams 9 Chilli Powder 100 grams 10 Coriander Powder 100 grams 11 Mustard 100 grams 12 Cumin 100 grams 13 Pepper 50 grams 14 Tamarind 200 grams 15 Toor Dhal 250 grams 16 Urad Dhal 500 grams 17 Rava 1 kg 18 Wheat Flour 1 kg 19 Salt 500 20 Cloth Bag 1 piece 21 Sugarcane 1 piece

(c) The scheme however, was infested with serious irregularities and illegalities, and visited with corruption and administrative malfeasance, and the details as could be gathered by the petitioner are as below:

i. Only a short e-tender notice was issued for procuring the items for a total sum of Rs.1,296.88 crores, and in the process, the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act, 1998, and the Rules made therein were deliberately ignored;

ii. The articles procured were of sub-standard quality. Most of the items distributed had crossed their expiry date, and smartly the expirty dates were not mentioned in any of the hampers;

iii. While the list of 21 items are easily available within the State, the Government had gone for procurement from the North Indian businessmen at exorbitant prices. Even the sugarcanes were offered by our own farmers at the market price of Rs.12/- to Rs.15/- per cane, to the co-operative societies, the Government went on to purchase it at Rs.33/. The scheme, valued at Rs.1,296.88 crores, was to benefit 2,15,48,060 beneficiaries, and this means that the per capita cost of a gift hamper is Rs.602/-. However, if the same was procured in the open market, it would be around Rs.485.55 only, and that the difference roughly estimated at Rs.117/- per beneficiary, had been swindled and gone into the pockets of respondents 2 to 6;

iv. In some of the places,