HC confirms conviction of supervisor of town planning aut'rity

: Madras High court Bench today confirmed the conviction of a supervisor of Tirunelveli Local Town Planning Authority Under Prevention of Corruption Act.
Justice M Sathyanarayanan, dismissing the appeal by supervisor M Rengaramanujam,said the trial court had carefully scrutinized the entire material relating to the case,and had rightly come to the conclusion to convict and sentence him.
The Judge said that on an independent appraisement of oral and documentary evidence, he was of the considered opinion that there was no error apparent or infirmity in the impugned judgment passed by the trial court.
The sleuths of Vigilance and anti corruption bureau, Tirunelveli, caught the supervisor accepting Rs 500 as bribe, after successfully laying a trap.

The special judge for Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Cases Tirunelveli on Feb 28 2005 found Rengaramanujam guilty, sentenced him to one year Rigorous Imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 on him. In default, he would have to undergo three months simple imprisonment,which would run concurrently.
The prosecution case was that one M Selvi had developed nine house sites on her land in Kulavanigarpuram village in Tirunelveli. Seeking approval, she applied to the director, Town and Country Planning, Chennai, with records through Tirunelveli Local Planning Authority in the year 2000.

Originally, an Association had objected to approval of the sites following which the director sought some clarifications in May 2001 through Tirunelveli office. Accordingly, it was done.

Following it, the director accorded approval on November 13 2001 and directed the developer to pay Rs.900 as centage charges and to obtain a National Small Savings bond for Rs 500. She did so and handed over the papers to the supervisor for forwarding it to the director.
When the woman's husband sought to know the status of the papers, the supervisor demanded Rs 500 for forwarding it.
He filed a complaint with VAC, who laid a trap and arrested him.