Vijayabaskar 1st TN minister to come under CBI scanner

September 5, 2018

Chennai, Sept 5: Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar faced on Wednesday a second central agency probe in two years, with the CBI knocking at his doors after the Income Tax raid last year.

Vijayabaskar is the first state minister to come under the IT and CBI scanner, with both the raids being carried out in the post-Jayalalithaa era.

The Tamil Nadu health minister, state police chief T K Rajendran and former senior police officials were among those whose premises were searched by the CBI on Wednesday as part of its probe into the Gutka scam, involving alleged payments to officials by a gutka manufacturer.

The raids began around 7 AM with the sleuths swooping down on the premises of those under its radar.

The minister could not be contacted for a response, even as his residence remained out of bounds for the media.

The Income Tax sleuths had visited him as part of a coordinated state-wide search in April last year over alleged tax evasion. The IT raids were conducted in full media glare following information that black money was allegedly being pumped in for the R K Nagar assembly bypoll scheduled that month.

The April 12 bypoll, necessitated following the death of chief minister J Jayalalithaa in December 2016, was later rescinded by the Election Commission over complaints of money distribution.

Rajendran said to be the first serving police chief to face CBI raids, also could not be contacted. Sources in the state police headquarters said he has not come to the office "so far."

The DMK, PMK and CPI(M) have demanded the minister's ouster from the cabinet and also wanted the government to remove Rajendran as DGP.

The Gutka scam came to light on July 8, 2017, when income tax sleuths raided the godown, offices and residences of a pan masala and gutka (a concoction of tobacco and pan masala) manufacturer in Tamil Nadu, who had been facing charges of tax evasion to the tune of Rs 250 crore.

The manufacture, storage and sale of the chewable forms of tobacco, including gutka and pan masala were banned by the Tamil Nadu government in 2013.

During the raids, the IT department sleuths had seized a diary containing names of those who had been allegedly paid by the gutka manufacturers.

The case was sent to the CBI by the Madras High Court in April this year on the plea of a DMK leader. This was challenged in the Supreme Court by a Tamil Nadu health official but the apex court sided with the order of the Madras High Court and asked the agency to register a case.

The probe agency had registered an FIR against unidentified officials of the Tamil Nadu government, Central Excise Department and the Food Safety Department in May.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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