HC issues notice to CBI on illegal granite scam probe

The Madras High Court today issued a notice to CBI in the illegal granite mining matter in which senior IAS officer U Sagayam, appointed by the court, has pegged loss to the state exchequer at Rs 1,11,000 crore in Madurai district and suggested further probe by the central agency.
After going through the submissions by state Adovcate General A.L.Somayaji on the steps taken by the government in pursuance to the report submitted by Sagayam on the illegal mining, the court also directed the government to file one more report on futher action taken.
Issuing the notice to CBI, the first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh, in its order said "the question would be as to how further investigation has to be carried out and whether it is required to be entrusted to CB-CID or CBI or the current situation is maintained."

It then posted the matter to June 7 for further hearing.
The court had on February 15 last directed the government to furnish the details regarding the steps taken on the report submitted by Sagayam who in his report had said the actual loss to the government exchequer was more than Rs 1,11,000 crore due to illegal mining in Madurai district.
The court had appointed Sagayam as the Legal Commissioner to look into allegations of illegal mining on a PIL filed by social activist "Traffic" Ramaswamy.

Sagayam's counsel M Radhakrishnan had earlier 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 that in the light of this the court had to examine the issue further.
He 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 be ordered, he submitted.
Sagayam had onNovember 23 last submitted his 600-page report, along with supporting documents that run into hundreds of pages, to the court.