IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS Reserved on : 22.09.2023 Pronounced on : 03.11.2023 CORAM: JUSTICE N.SESHASAYEE W.P. No.7920 of 2022 K.R.Jayagopi ... Petitioner Vs.

1.The Hon'ble Tamil Nadu Lokayukta Represented by its Registrar SIDCO Corporate Office, 6th & 7th Floor SIDCO Industrial Estate, Guindy Chennai - 600 032.

2.Thiru.R.Sakkarapani Minister of Food and Civil Supplies Co-operation, Food and Consumer Protection Department Secretariat, Chennai - 600 009.

3.Thiru.I.Periyasamy Minister of Co-operative Societies Co-operation, Statistics and Ex-servicemen Welfare Fort St.George, Chennai - 600 009.

4.Thiru.Md.Nasimudeen, I.A.S Additional Chief Secretary to Government Co-operation, Food and Consumer Protection Department Secretariat, Chennai - 600 009.

5.Thiru. Dr.S.Prabhakar, I.A.S.

Managing Director Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation No.12, Thambusamy Road Kilpauk, Chennai - 600 010. 6.Thiru.V.Rajaraman, I.A.S., Commissioner of Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department 'Ezhilagam, Annexe Chepauk, Chennai - 600 005. ... Respondents 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.

For Petitioner : Mr.V.Raghavachari Senior Advocate Assisted by Mr.S.T.Bharath Gowtham For Respondents : Mr.R.Shanmugasundaram Advocate General for R2 to R4, R6 Ms.S.Meenakshi for R1 Ms.M.Sneha for R5

ORDER

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:

S.No.	Particulars	Quantity
1	Raw Rice	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 soc

Click Here to Read the rest of this document