HC dismisses plea to recover panchayat funds from ex-prez

Madurai: Taking into account that there was no material to show a huge misappropriation of panchayat funds to the tune of Rs3 crore in Tenkasi district, Madras high court dismissed a plea seeking a direction to the authorities to recover the amount ‘looted' by the former panchayat president who was subsequently removed from the post by the authorities.The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by R Murugan. He said R Kuthalingaraja, who was president of Avudayanoor panchayat, looted Rs 3 crore from the panchayat fund. Later, he was removed by Tenkasi district collector/inspector of panchayats. However, on a revision filed against the order, the revisional authority/govt discharged Kuthalingaraja from certain charges.The petitioner said the revisional authority had not properly analysed facts and, without any reason, discharged Kuthalingaraja from the grave charges. Hence, he moved court challenging the order.A division bench of Justice N Sathish Kumar and Justice M Jothiraman observed that the averments in the petitioner's affidavit are omnibus in nature and no specific details or instances were stated. The petitioner assumed himself that there was misappropriation to the tune of Rs 3 crore. The district collector, who is the inspector of panchayats, framed seven charges for various irregularities in the panchayat, and none of them indicate a huge misappropriation as claimed in the petition.The charges with regard to some irregularities lead to a few lakhs towards the alleged loss. The revisional authority took note of the fact that certain charges were not established and found that certain charges were proved against Kuthalingaraja. Accordingly, revisional authority confirmed the order of removing him from the post of president, the judges said.They observed that merely on presumption and assumption, the petitioner cannot canvass the public interest litigation without any material to show misappropriation of panchayat funds to the tune of Rs3 crore. Observing that the court does not find any merits in this petition, the judges dismissed the petition.