Ajay.U.K

The Madras High Court verdict on the petitions filed by SP Velumani and several government civil contractors asking for a gag order on the Anti-Corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam who furnished documents of corruption against the Municipal Administration minister has revived hopes of several volunteers who wish to see a transparent Chennai.

The plea was rejected by Justice R. Subramanian on the basis of the incriminating evidence produced by the NGO of an alleged multi-crore scam which involves the minister and civil contractors like Varadhan Infrastructure, KCP Engineers. The petitioners did not have any prima facie materials to substantiate their claim.

Jayaram Venkatesan, the founder and managing trustee of Arappor Iyakkam was optimistic about the MHC verdict. “It is a slap on the face of SP Velumani, The Madras High Court has said all the documents are substantial and the claims are false. All the documents we submitted were correct and the judge took it as prima facie.” he said.

Big Victory! Minister S. P. Velumani + 9 contractors case against Arappor seeking gag order on speaking abt their Corruption dismissed by high court @Ahmedshabbir20 @savukku @DennisJesudasan @imranhindu @KomalGautham @priyankathiru @mahajournalist @karthickselvaa @SiddharthPTOI

— Jayaram Venkatesan (@JayaramArappor) June 3, 2019

Arappor Iyakkam had claimed that that 188 tenders worth ₹67 crores were given to a conglomerate of six contractors close to SP Velumani. According to Sources, The petition which was filed by the NGO states that “While there are scores of Registered contractors who had been awarded tenders in the same corporation earlier, the pattern noticed of only two bidders participating in most bids raises a string suspicion that these tenders were prefixed and pre-decided.”

The NGO had also accused of the tenders being adjusted to accommodate Vardhan Infrastructure, which won 88% of the total value of tenders to staff primary healthcare in the city of Chennai.

He also mentioned the promise SP Velumani had made some time ago. “SP Velumani had said he would resign if the corruption charges are proved against him, but he hasn’t done it so far. He has not conducted the local body elections yet and is doing business with the help of Benamis, paying no heed to Tamil Nadu Transparency Act 2019. He should resign”

The Arappor Iyakkam founder also commented on the future plans of the organisation. ” Whenever someone tries to raise their voice against corruption, other people will try to silence it. We will continue the fight against corruption not just until SP Velumani resigns, but until the whole of Chennai Corporation is transparent and free of corruption.