Justice (Retd.) Regupathi quits as Inquiry Commission head, objects to Madras HC’s “unwarranted” remarks

While tendering his resignation letter to the Tamil Nadu government, Justice (Retd.) R Regupathi has aired his objection to recent comments made by the Madras High Court while ordering the suspension of an Inquiry Commission headed by him..The inquiry commission had been tasked with probing alleged irregularities in the construction of a Secretariat complex in Omandurar during the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party’s regime. Justice Regupathi took over as the head of the Commission in 2012, on the resignation of Justice S Thangaraj..On August 3 this year, Justice SM Subramaniam of the High Court ordered the suspension of the probe, observing that the funds being spent to maintain the defunct Regupathi Commission were unnecessary and wasteful..However, in a resignation letter dated August 13, Justice Regupathi has taken objection to such “unwarranted oral remarks”. As emphasised in this representation, the work of the Commission was stalled primarily due to administrative delay on the part of the Court Registry..After a slew of petitions on the issue came to be filed, the Madras High Court eventually directed the Inquiry Commission not to take any further action till the petitions were finally disposed of. This direction was made in 2015..Since then, Justice Regupathi points out, the difficulty in getting the case listed before the Court itself proved to be the primary obstacle for the Commission..The Advocate General’s plea for early hearing was rejected. Petitions filed on behalf of the Commission seeking to vacate the stay order were not listed. A letter raising concerns was also sent to the Court Registry, to no avail..In this background, Justice Regupathi has lamented that the August 3 order was passed bereft of any basis or documentary evidence or even any logic. As noted in his written representation,.“Haste and swiftness with which the Hon’ble Court had proceeded in passing the orders could be discerned from a reading of the Orders, which contains extraneous and irrelevant matters.”.Rather, it is argued that the Court ought to have factored in the administrative lethargy on the part of the Court registry in listing the matter expeditiously..“Before blindly blaming the Commission for the alleged delay, if the matter has been deliberated upon with minimum required fixity, it would have been easily concluded that the delay was actually not because of any listlessness on the part of the Commission but rather, emphatically, it was due to the administrative lethargy of the Registry of the Madras Hogh Court in not listing the vacate stay petitions for a period of three long years. .In this matter, ironically, more than three year time was not taken by the High Court for disposal but for mere listing of the vacate stay petitions. Such accusation is not an exaggeration, but, it is the only fact, although a hard pill to swallow.“.Before concluding his resignation letter, Justice Regupathi has also argued that the Court’s misplaced remarks have damaged the reputation of inquiry commissions in general..“That being the unassailable fact and truth, passing unwarranted comments against the retired Judges functioning as Commissions of Inquiry is highly reprehensible and erroneous; and that has sharply damaged the reputation of all Commissions of Inquiry.”.Read the full letter: