Furnish commission report to Surappa: Madras HC tells TN

The Madras High Court on Friday asked the Tamil Nadu government to make available a copy to Anna University’s former Vice-chancellor M K Surappa of the report of the Justice P Kalaiyarasan that went into allegations of corruption by him.

The court granted two weeks’ time to the government to furnish the report to Surappa, who served as VC of the state’s premier engineering institute. It also asked Surappa to submit his response in four weeks thereafter after going through the report so that his response is made part of the proceedings.

Passing orders on the case filed by Surappa against the inquiry commission, Justice V Parthiban said the explanation by the former VC should be part of the proceedings against him. Surappa had knocked at the doors of the court against the committee and the government’s decision not to give him a copy of the report before it is submitted to the Governor.

The then AIADMK Government had in November 2020 appointed a commission to probe allegations of corruption against Surappa by misusing funds allotted to the institution and by collecting bribes during recruitment of temporary teaching staff.

The inquiry was constituted since allegations raised against Surappa are “serious in nature” based on a complaint from A Suresh of Tiruchirappalli dated February 21, 2020, that Surappa and Sakthinathan of the Anna University are involved in corruption to the tune of Rs 200 crores.

Further, the government also alleged that the duo has collected Rs 80 crores by taking bribes anywhere between Rs 13 lakh to Rs 15 lakh from candidates for appointing them as temporary teaching staff, the order said.

The inquiry came close on the heels of a tug of war between Surappa and Tamil Nadu government over granting of Institute of Eminence (IoE) to Anna University. The government had then taken objection to Surappa writing directly writing to the Centre on the IoE status.

Surappa, who hails from Mysuru, has had a roller-coaster ride ever since he was appointed to the post. A renowned Metallurgist, Surappa's appointment as V-C of Anna University was opposed by Opposition parties on the pretext that he belonged to Karnataka.

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