Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan issues clarification on prosecution sanction against former ministers

Regupathy wrote on Wednesday that the CBI had charged former ministers M R Vijayabhaskar and B V Ramana in the Gutkha scam case. He wrote that the state cabinet forwarded the CBI’s prosecution request to the governor’s office on September 12, 2022, but no reply was received.

He added that the state’s Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption had sought the sanction to prosecute Vijayabaskar and another former minister, K C Veeramani, and that the agency’s prosecution requests, forwarded to the governor by the cabinet on September 12, 2022 and May 15, 2023, were similarly pending with the Raj Bhavan.

The minister also pointed out that 13 bills passed by the Assembly were awaiting the governor’s approval, two of them for almost two years.

On Thursday, a release from the Raj Bhavan said that with respect to Ramana and C Vijayabaskar, the cases were “under legal examination”. “With respect to the Directorate of Vigilance case against K C Veeramani, the same could not be acted upon due to the fact that the state government has to submit a duly authenticated copy of the Investigation report for further action,” it said.

The Raj Bhavan also said it had not received “any reference or request” in respect of M R Vijayabhaskar from the state government.