The Madras High Court on Monday (October 26, 2026) cleared the decks for the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) to investigate the multi-crore rupees cash-for-jobs scam case registered against former DMK Minister K.N. Nehru by dismissing a review application filed by him.

First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan dismissed an application filed by him urging the court to review/recall its February 20 direction to the DVAC to register a First Information Report (FIR) regarding the scam and then commence the probe.

The judges refused to make any changes to the direction issued by a Bench comprising former Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava (since retired) and Justice Murugan early this year while disposing of a writ petition filed by AIADMK Rajya Sabha member I.S. Inbadurai.

The Bench led by Chief Justice Dharmadhikari agreed with Advocate General Vijay Narayan that the former Minister could not complain of denial of principles of natural justice since he took no steps between February 4, 2026 when he received the court notice and February 20, 2026 when the direction was issued.

“If the review applicant, once notice reached him, wished to bring anything to attention of this Court, nothing stopped him from moving an application in that window of 16 days. No such attempt was made. This, in substance, fortifies the submission of learned Advocate General that the review applicant sat by and watched the proceedings before complaining,” the Bench wrote.

The court further permitted the State government to withdraw its review application filed during the DMK regime. Though Mr. Nehru’s counsel objected to such withdrawal on the ground that the government could not shift its stand just because of a new political party having taken over the reigns pursuant to the 2026 general elections in the State, the judges rejected the objection.

Recording A-G’s submission that DVAC had registered the FIR on June 5, 2026, the judges said: “The withdrawal of State’s review application on the ground that the case has already been registered in compliance with the direction of this Court… does not constitute a subversion of the rule of law. On the contrary, continuing to resist registration after the government itself has chosen not to press the objection would undermine the rule of law far more severely than relinquishing the challenge.”

Since the FIR had been registered during the pendency of the review applications, the judges also closed a contempt of court petition Mr. Inbadurai, through his counsel S. Tamilselvan, against the DVAC officials for not having registered the FIR immediately after the February 20, 2026 direction.

Case background

It was the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) which on October 27, 2025 shared a 232-page dossier with the then Tamil Nadu Director General of Police/Head of Police Force (DGP/HoPF) levelling the cash-for-jobs allegation in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) department led by the then Minister Mr. Nehru.

The ED had laid its hands on the incriminating materials in April 2025 while conducting a search and seizure operation, in connection with a bank fraud case, at the premises associated with Mr. Nehru’s brother N. Ravichandran. It had shared the information with the DGP in accordance with Section 66 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The materials reportedly disclosed several crores of rupees having exchanged hands through hawala transactions for filling up 2,538 posts of Assistant Engineers, Junior Engineers and Town Planning Officers in the MAWS department. They revealed receipt of bribe amount of ₹25 lakh to ₹35 lakh per person and sharing of call letters with the candidates even before those people were officially selected and appointed.

Observing that the material shared by the ED was sufficient for the DVAC to register a FIR, the Bench led by former Chief Justice Shrivastava had said, the dossier contained solid material to arrive at a prima facie conclusion of corruption to the tune of several crore of rupees in offering and securing government jobs.

Further, criticising the DVAC for having conducted only a preliminary inquiry even after the receipt of ED’s dossier, the Bench had also said, “it raises serious doubts and concern.” It impressed upon the need to take action against the 2,538 government servants too if their recruitment process was ultimately found to have been rigged.

“In cases involving such complications and sensitive issues, the State ought to have acted diligently and should have registered a case without any delay and conducted a detailed investigation. Any delay in registering and investigating the case, may give room to destruction of material evidences which would be detrimental to the case,” the former Chief Justice Shrivastava’s Bench had written on February 20.

Then, the judges also said that though they were satisfied that the investigation could be entrusted to an independent and specialised agency, they permitted the DVAC to conduct the probe since the State government had referred the issue to it. They had also ordered conduct of an expeditious investigation into the matter.

Published – October 26, 2026 12:23 pm IST