HC grants time till March to TN govt on Sagayam report

The Madras High Court today granted time till March 31 to the Tamil Nadu government to furnish details on steps taken on a report filed by the court- appointed legal commissioner which has pegged loss to the state exchequer due to illegal granite mining in Madurai district at more than Rs 1 lakh crore.
The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh gave the directive during the hearing of a PIL by social activist Traffic Ramaswamy.
"What we require from the state government is the analysis of the report, steps taken in pursuance to the report and further steps contemplated to be taken, so that it (report) is taken to its logical consequences," the bench said.

In that context, the entrusting of further investigation to any authority would also be examined, it said.
The bench then posted the matter to March 31 after Advocate General A L Somayaji sought more time.
Former Madurai districtcollector U Sagayam, appointed by the court as the one-man commission to probe into the 'illegal' mining, had in his report informed the court that the loss to the government exchequer due to illegal mining was more than Rs 1,11,000 crore over the years.

Earlier when the matter came up for hearing, Sagayam's counsel M Radhakrishnan suggested a CBI investigation into the granite scam.

Pointing to the court's earlier order that it could decide on referring the matter to Central Vigilance Commission once the IAS officer submitted his report, the counsel said in light of this the court had to examine the issue further.
The counsel also submitted that several adjournments and time had been given to the state government in this regard. Hence, to avoid any further delay, CBI investigation may kindly be ordered.
Sagayam had onNovember 23 last submitted his 600-page report along with supporting documents that run into hundreds of pages, to the court.