HC notice to govt pleader on plea for action against minister

The Madras High Court today issued a notice to the Government Pleader on a petition seeking a direction to the Regional Passport Officer here to initiate legal action against State Fisheries Minister KA Jayapal for allegedly circumventing police verification for passport.
The First Bench, comprising Chief Justice RK Agrawal and Justice K Ravichandra Babu, adjourned the matter for a period of two weeks enabling the Government Pleader to seek instructions from the government.
Kaliamoorthy in his petition alleged that an FIR was registered against the Minister and 26 others by Nagapattinam Town Police under various IPC sections and Section 3(1) of Tamil Nadu Public Properties Destruction Act on November 1 2006 in connection with an attack on villagers of Akkaraipettai.

He alleged that the minister obtained a Tatkal Passport by suppressing the fact that he is an accused in a case and also circumvented the process of police verification by obtaining verification certificate from an IAS officer.
The petitioner further alleged that Gagandeep Singh Bedi, IAS, Secretary, Department of Revenue, Tamil Nadu government, did not ascertain the facts and issued a "false certificate" which amounts to an offence of creating a false document of committing forgery.