Tamil Nadu Finance Minister N. Marie Wilson on Friday (September 4, 2026) received, from the Puducherry District Court, the additional charge sheet filed against him and his father in a 2022 assault case.

On the directions of the court, Mr. Wilson appeared before the Second Judicial Magistrate Chandrasekharan on Friday morning and received a copy of the charge sheet. His father Nestor, who is the second accused in the case, was also present.

After the Minister received the copy of the charge sheet, the judge posted the next hearing of the case to September 9. The JM-1 court had been hearing the case pertaining to the assault in its initial stages. As the JM-I was recently transferred, the accused appeared before JM-II to receive a copy of the charge sheet.

The court had previously directed the Minister to appear “in person without fail” to receive the charge sheet and a pen drive, which was produced by the complainant as evidence for the offence allegedly committed by Mr. Wilson. Recently, the Madras High Court had also pulled up the Minister for failing to appear before the Puducherry court in connection with the case.

What is the case about?

The case was filed in 2022 by Careline Claude, wife of the Minister’s brother, who resides in Ezhil Nagar in Puducherry town. She had complained that Mr. Wilson had trespassed into her house and assaulted and abused her over a property dispute.

A case was registered by the Lawspet police. However, she had challenged the FIR, saying that it invoked only the soft provisions of the law against Mr. Wilson. On the directions of the court, a fresh charge sheet invoking more serious provisions was later filed by the police.

The Revised Budget Estimates for 2026-27, unveiled on Wednesday by Finance Minister N. Marie Wilson, had no mention of child protection schemes, child rights activists in the State pointed out.

While education and nutrition related schemes involving children saw many announcements from Super Clean Super Campus to anti-drug clubs, modern bicycles, gold ring for babies and special school for children with intellectual disability, child rights activists noted that no announcement regarding child protection were made which involves the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), Juvenile Justice Boards or the Juvenile Homes.

“The TVK government which was voted into power because of children continues to look at children as beneficiaries and not as stakeholders,” said a child rights activist.

Kalpana Sathish, development consultant and researcher noted that in the past five years of the government almost 53% of the allocation for children welfare was done in education and 23% in nutrition while child protection expenditure is skewed. “There was no systemic reform announcement or concerns addressed in this Budget,” she said.

Child rights activist Andrew Sesuraj said, “There was no announcement regarding children-friendly infrastructure in Juvenile Justice Boards or separate funds for SCPCR. The child protection mechanism has now been forgotten,” said

The Tamil Nadu Child Rights Watch in a statement said that while children are increasingly recognised as future innovators and workers, less attention is devoted to their rights to protection, participation and holistic development.

The next phase of budget reform should therefore move from human capital budgeting towards child rights budgeting, where every investment is assessed by its contribution to children’s survival, development, protection and participation, they added.

Kalpana also said that child protection is emerging as a major issue in Tamil Nadu. “There are rising child sexual abuse cases, child marriage, children eloping, migration and others. These need to be addressed. Right now the State is depending on centralised funds and these are not enough for trickle down efforts to take place. There needs to be radical change seen in investing in children,” she said.

For Chennai, no State budget seems complete without allocation for the city’s rivers restoration. The maiden budget of the TVK-led government also promises restoration of the Cooum and the Adyar rivers.

Presenting the budget in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday, Finance Minister N. Marie Wilson said the government would strive with the “utmost resolve to restore the Cooum and the Adyar to their natural state.”

Boat rides

Drawing parallels with Seoul’s Cheonggyecheon and Singapore’s Kallang, he said the government would invite global tenders and prepare detailed feasibility and project reports to transform both the rivers into Chennai’s defining landmarks. He outlined an ambitious goal of making the rivers clean for boat rides.

A detailed project report for Adyar river restoration was already under preparation for a scheme announced under the Hybrid Annuity Model by the previous regime. Sources noted that the project report is awaiting a few clarifications. While some improvement works proposed by the Water Resources Department have been completed, a detailed project report was being prepared for the Cooum. The reports may be refined in line with the new government’s priorities.

The ₹3,108-crore Ring Main Pipeline project announced by the previous regime during the last fiscal also found a place in the budget. Sources said preliminary work is in progress to construct the circular pipeline, which will connect all major drinking water sources in Chennai with distribution points. The project, which aims to provide equitable and uninterrupted water supply, would be completed by 2030-31.

The circular pipeline for the city was designed to handle a flow of 1,762 million litres of water a day, which is the projected water demand for 2057. The project would be expanded to cover the entire Chennai Metropolitan Area in phases, sources said.

The State government has also promised to take steps to expedite river interlinking initiatives. Mr. Wilson noted that the Cauvery – Vaigai – Gundar river linking project would commence this year with an initial fund allocation of ₹150 crore. It would also allocate ₹50 crore towards preparing detailed project reports for other river linking projects, including Pennaiyar – Cheyyar.

With seven of the 33 Ministers sworn into the new Cabinet on Thursday winning from Chennai constituencies, the State capital has secured one of its strongest representations in the Tamil Nadu Council of Ministers in recent years.

This includes Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) head C. Joseph Vijay, the MLA from Perambur who holds the Municipal Administration, Urban and Water Supply portfolio in addition to other key sectors. Since many in the top leadership of the TVK decided to contest from Chennai, and leaders became ministers, the city’s contribution to the current cabinet is among the highest ever.

TVK general secretary and T. Nagar MLA N. Anand is the Minister for Rural Development and Water Resources. TVK general secretary (election campaign management) and Villivakkam MLA Aadhav Arjuna is the Minister for Public Works and Sports Development. Similarly, Egmore (SC) MLA Rajmohan is the Minister for School Education, Tamil Development, Information and Publicity, and Mylapore MLA P. Venkataramanan is the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies.

Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar MLA N. Marie Wilson holds the Finance, Planning, and Development portfolios while Velachery legislator R. Kumar has been assigned the portfolio of Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology and Digital Services.

Past years

The current allocation marks a significant increase in representation for Chennai compared to the previous administrations.

In the 2021 DMK Cabinet headed by former Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who represented Kolathur, only three MLAs from the city were present, including P.K. Sekarbabu (Harbour) and Ma. Subramanian (Saidapet). Later, Udhayanidhi Stalin was sworn in as the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development in December 2022.

Before that, the 2016 AIADMK Cabinet featured just two Ministers from Chennai, including former CM J. Jayalalithaa (Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar) and D. Jayakumar (Royapuram). Similarly, the 2011 AIADMK government included only two city representatives, G. Senthamizhan (Saidapet) and Gokula Indira (Anna Nagar).