India
pti-PTI
New
Delhi,
Aug
03:
The
Supreme
Court
on
Wednesday
set
aside
a
Madras
High
Court
order
of
a
CBI
probe
into
allegations
of
corruption
against
then
Chief
Minister
and
AIADMK
leader
Edappadi
K
Palaniswami
in
awarding
contracts
in
the
state
highways
department.
A
bench
comprising
Chief
Justice
N
V
Ramana
and
Justices
Krishna
Murari
and
Hima
Kohli
asked
the
high
court
to
decide
the
complaint
against
Palaniswami
without
being
influenced
by
earlier
observations
or
orders
passed
in
this
matter.
The
high
court,
after
taking
note
of
the
plea
of
DMK
leader
R
S
Bharathi
against
Palaniswami,
had
in
October
2018
passed
the
order
transferring
the
probe
on
his
complaint
of
tender
irregularities
to
CBI
for
“fair,
reasonable
and
transparent
probe”.
Palaniswami
moved
the
top
court
against
the
high
court
order
which
was
stayed.
Senior
advocate
Kapil
Sibal,
appearing
for
the
DMK
leader,
said
he
did
not
want
a
CBI
probe
and
would
rather
seek
an
impartial
investigation.
“Let
the
high
court
examine
the
(inquiry)
report.
Without
going
into
the
details
of
the
matter,
we
request
the
high
court
to
look
into
the
reports
submitted
there
and
pass
an
appropriate
order
after
examining
the
report…We
set
aside
all
the
observations
that
will
not
come
in
the
way
of
the
fresh
consideration
of
the
matter,”
the
bench
said.
Bharathi
had
filed
the
petition
in
the
high
court
accusing
Palaniswami
of
misusing
his
official
position
to
allot
various
road
construction
projects
to
companies
owned
by
his
relatives
and
others.
Palaniswami
had
contended
the
high
court
wrongly
passed
the
order
without
issuing
him
a
notice
and
providing
him
an
opportunity
to
defend
himself.
The
DMK
leader
had
sought
a
direction
to
the
Directorate
of
Vigilance
and
Anti-Corruption
(DVAC)
to
register
a
case
against
the
former
chief
minister.
The
DVAC
had
given
a
clean
chit
to
Palaniswami.