India: In Tamil Nadu, Rs. 2650 crore road development tender canceled

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A Chennai court has ordered the immediate cancellation of road development tenders worth Rs 2,650 crore across Tamil Nadu without the permission of the panchayat councils. Funds are allocated to each state on the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission of the Central Government and those funds are distributed to each panchayat.

The panchayat is empowered to carry out the necessary projects for the people living in the panchayat through the panchayat council. But the projects are selected arbitrarily by the Rural Development Officer of the State of Tamil Nadu without the decisions of the Panchayat Council. Panchayat leaders, including Jyoti Mani Kumaresan of the Mannargudi Panchayat Union in the Thiruvarur district, had filed a case in the Chennai High Court alleging that the projects were being selected and acted upon by Tamil Nadu government officials unconstitutionally without the approval of the Panchayat Council and the Grama Niladhari Council.

The case came up for hearing before Judge Ananda Venkatesh before senior counsel P. Wilson and NR Ilango appeared for the petitioner. Panchayat councils decided and argued that the tender should be let go accordingly. After hearing the argument, Judge Anand Venkatesh ordered the cancellation of the notice to issue the tender through the Rural Development Department officials without the permission of the Panchayat Councils.