Tamil Nadu government has issued a lookout notice against Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister M.K. Alagiri's son Durai Dayanidhi Alagiri for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore granite mining scam.
But the state opposed a bunch of petitions in the Madras High Court seeking a CBI probe into the illegal granite quarrying in Madurai district.
Advocate General Navaneetha Krishnan told the bench on Friday the government would nab the culprits behind the illegal quarrying and was not protecting anybody.
He said the Superintendent of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption was monitoring the case. As the experts were assessing the actual loss, the concerned revenue officials were already suspended. "There was no move to save anybody," he said.
The State CPI(M) has filed a petition saying a CBI probe was necessary as Collector Anshul Mishra who placed the report on illegal granite quarrying before the bench had himself admitted collusion of government officials.
CPI(M) lawyer said quarry owners had a 'free run' for the past 19 years. Licences had not been cancelled and only a showcause notice issued though three inspections since 2010 had pointed to specific allegations of illegal quarrying.
Another petitioner's counsel said a CBI probe was necessary as persons involved were politically and economically influential and the scam involved ran to thousands of crores.
He said government was forced to take action only after former Collector U. Sagayam's report was leaked to the press.
There was also a need for scientific estimation of the loss suffered due to illegal granite quarrying as Sagayam had pegged it at Rs 16,338 crore, but Mishra had said it was Rs 1,800 crore.
During a crackdown on illegal quarrying, cases were registered against 10 persons including Durai Dayanidhi on August 7 charging companies owned by them with mining sand and granite without permission.
The crackdown followed a detailed survey of 175 granite quarrying sites by the district administration on a report by Sagayam which put the loss at Rs 16,338 crore.