The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : DVAC report on `teacher training admission scam' under scrutiny

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 13, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

DVAC report on `teacher training admission scam' under scrutiny

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, MARCH 12. The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), probing corruption charges against former Education Minister K. Anbazhagan and two officials in teacher training admissions in 1999-2000, has submitted before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court that a `draft of the final report' on the investigation has been prepared and is pending scrutiny before superior officials.

In his affidavit submitted yesterday, the inspector, Special Investigation Cell, Vigilance and Anti-corruption, Chennai, sought two more months to file the final report before the lower court. The report, after legal scrutiny, "may have to be sent to the Government for concurrence and follow-up action."

Deadline for report

Allowing the plea, Justice M. Chockalingam directed the agency to file the final report by the end of April and report to the Bench.

The affidavit said 71 witnesses from Oddanchatram, Kodaikanal, Madurai, Usilampatti, Batlagundu and Dindigul were examined and 27 voluminous documents collected from various government offices including the Directorate of Teacher Education, Research and Training and the Revenue Department. Many documents were confiscated during searches conducted simultaneously in the houses of the three accused on November 28, 2002.

An October 1, 2002 Public (SC) Department letter granted permission for the DVAC to register a case against the former Minister; R. Kannan, former Director of Teacher Education, Research and Training; and J. Sudharsan, principal, District Institute of Teacher Education and Training, Oddanchatram. A case was registered under the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act against the trio.

Initially, a session's court in Chennai, based on a complaint by the maternal uncle of an unsuccessful candidate under the freedom fighter's quota, directed the DVAC to probe the matter. He moved the principal seat of the High Court in April 2002, seeking transfer of the investigation to the Crime Branch-CID or the Central Bureau of Investigation.

However, the court, on April 3, 2002, directed the DVAC to complete the investigation within three months. Since then it has been granted time periodically to complete the probe.

The complainant said his niece, granddaughter of freedom fighter V.A. Ramasamy, secured 1034 out of 1,200 marks in the higher secondary examinations and applied for a seat in the Oddanchatram institute under the freedom fighters category. But the director and other officials asked for Rs.1 lakh as bribe and the former Minister was also party to the demand.

He also alleged that several ineligible candidates, who bribed the officials, were admitted to the institute by forging documents.

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