https://youtu.be/9hXQUcd50ek?si=g-qRco77gCX-BSAi [28/04, 08:38] sekarreporter1: IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS DATED: 10-04-2026 CORAM THE HON’BLE MR JUSTICE KRISHNAN RAMASAMY WP No. 9959 of 2021 and WMP.No. 10570 of 2021 Palladam Rotary Electric Crematorium Trust, Rep. by its Secretary, N.Arivindhababu , Door No.16/153, Rajeshwari Nursing Home, N.G.R. Road, Palladam- 641 664, Tiruppur District. ..Petitioner(s)

[27/04, 20:35] sekarreporter1:

[28/04, 08:38] sekarreporter1: IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 10-04-2026
CORAM
THE HON’BLE MR JUSTICE KRISHNAN RAMASAMY
WP No. 9959 of 2021 and WMP.No. 10570 of 2021
Palladam Rotary Electric Crematorium Trust, Rep. by its Secretary, N.Arivindhababu ,
Door No.16/153, Rajeshwari Nursing Home, N.G.R. Road, Palladam- 641 664, Tiruppur District.
..Petitioner(s)
Vs
1. The District Collector,
District Collector Office, Tiruppur.
2. The Tahsildar,
Tahsildar Office, Palladam, Tiruppur District.
3. The Block Development Officer, Palladam Panchayat Union, Palladam, Tiruppur District.
4. The President,
Panikkampatti Village and Panchayat, Panikkampatti, Palladam Taluk, Tiruppur District.
5. The Deputy Director,
Town and Country Planning Department,
Coimbatore Zone,
Corporation Commercial Complex,
Dr.Nanjappa Road, Coimbatore- 18.
6. The Additional Director,
Town and Country Planning Department,
Tiruppur Zone, 1st floor, Kumaran Commercial Complex, Tiruppur- 641 601.
7. The District Environmental Engineer,
Tiruppur South,
Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board,
Pollachi Bye Pass, Palladam, Tiruppur District.
8. P.Vijayakumar
9. Gengasamy
10. N.Jagannathan
11. P.Kasthurisamy
12.Saradha
13.N.Rangaraj
14.Saminathan
15. G.Vijayasekaran
16. K.Eswaramoorthy
17. D.Manoharan
18. N.Sathish
..Respondent(s)
Prayer:
Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking issuance of writ of mandamus, directing the Respondents 5 and 6 to immediately grant approval for the proposal / Plan submitted by the 3rd Respondent vide his proceedings No. 889/ 2018/ Aa2 dated 08.04.2019, under Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules 2019 for the construction of the Palladam Electric / Gas crematorium owned by the 3rd Respondent and to fast track the necessary clearances so as to enable the Petitioner Palladam Rotary Electricity Crematorium Trust which is purely a public Trust Created by the Philanthropic Contributions of the members of Rotary club, Palldam, as the petitioner will only build, manage and handover the same to the 3rd respondent for the benefit of cremating the dead in Palladam Taluk, as the nearest electric /gasified crematorium is 17 kilometers away in Tiruppur District Headquarters, inspite of so many earlier rounds of litigations being elaborately dealt by this Hon’ble Court in W.P.No.30902 of 2014, W.P.No.3900 of 2015, W.P.No.13729 of 2015, W.P.No.31953 of 2015, C.R.P. (PD).No.4671 of 2015 and W.M.P.Nos.6036 of 2017 & 7247 of 2018 and also directing the respondents 1 to 7 to report the progress and compliance of its orders.
For Petitioner(s): Mr.M.Purushothaman
For Respondent(s): Mrs.S.Anitha
Special Government Pleader for R1 to R3,
R5 & R6
Mr.R.Ramesh for R4
Mr.B.N.Suchindran for R7
R8, R10 & R18 – Tapal Due
Mr.N.Umapathy for R9, R11, R15 & R16
ORDER
This Writ Petition in W.P.No.9959 of 2021 was filed for grant approval for the proposal / Plan submitted by the 3rd Respondent for the construction of the Palladam Electric / Gas crematorium owned by the 3rd Respondent and to fast track the necessary clearances for the benefit of cremating the dead bodies in Palladam Taluk, and also directing the respondents 1 to 7 to report the progress and compliance of its orders.
2. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would submit that in the present case as early as on 06.10.2015 itself, the 3rd respondent entered into an agreement with the petitioner for construction of Electric Crematorium at Palladam Municipality. Subsequent to the agreement, the petitioner Trust started construction, while so, the respondent directed the petitioner to stop the work citing reason that unless otherwise the planning permission is obtained, no construction work can be carried out. The learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that the crematorium will cater the needs of the entire Taluk people and the entire cost for construction of crematorium will be borne by the petitioner so no cost is going to be incurred by the ex-chequers.
3. Under these circumstances, to the shock and surprise,
the Palladam Municipality have called for tender for a sum of Rs.1,40,00,000/- for the purpose of construction of Electric Crematorium and the work was said to have been commenced on 23.02.2023 and it was completed on 30.06.2025 in the Palladam Municipality.
4. The main contention of the petitioner is that the 3rd respondent having entered into an agreement for construction of the Electric Crematorium, during the year 2015, with the petitioner without any cost to the ex-chequers, while so, the Palladam Municipality passed a resolution and have called for tender and constructed the crematorium at the cost of ex-chequers. This will clearly amounts to abuse of power by the 3rd & 4th respondents, who have made a huge loss to the ex-chequers for their own benefits.
5. It was also argued by the petitioner that in order to benefit not only the 3rd & 4th respondent-members, but also someone, who is close to the members of the 4th respondent-Panchayat, and also to lease out the Crematorium to one of the close associates of the office bearers of the concerned Municipality with the
intention to take undue advantage, the new tender was floated by the 3rd and 4th respondents at the cost of ex-chequers.
6. On the other hand, the learned counsel for the respondents would submit that the petitioner had not completed the construction of crematorium and hence, in order to cater the needs of the residents of Palladam Taluk, the resolution was passed by the 4th respondent. Subsequently, the tender was awarded and the construction work has also been completed and now, the electric crematorium is in operation. Therefore, he would contend that the question of making loss to the ex-chequers would not at all arise in the present case.
7. This Court is unable to understand as to why the 3rd & 4th respondents, who executed the agreement with the petitioner, had passed a Resolution and subsequently, floated and awarded the tender for construction of Electric
Crematorium at the cost of Ex-chequers, when the petitioner’s Trust / Palladam Rotary Electric Crematorium Trust is ready and willing to construct the same at free of cost for the public use, which would cater the needs of the entire people of the Palladam Taluk.
8. In this case, the agreement was signed with the petitioner-Trust for construction of electric crematorium at free of cost. Even the petitioner had completed 25% of construction work of the subject crematorium. At that stage, the 3rd/5th respondent had directed the petitioner to stop the construction work on the ground that no planning approval was obtained. Thereafter, all of a sudden, 3rd & 4th respondents had passed a Resolution and subsequently, floated and awarded the tender for a sum of Rs.1,40,00,000/- for construction of crematorium at the cost of ex-chequers. This would clearly amounts to abuse of power and misusing the public money by the 3rd and 4th respondents, which results in a huge loss to the ex-chequers.
9. The above narrated entire episode would show that the 3rd & 4th respondents had completely ignored the petitioner’s agreement dated
06.10.2015 with an ulterior motive and created a huge loss to the 4th respondentMunicipality. As stated above, by abusing powers, the 3rd & 4th respondents had conspired to pass the resolution, pursuant to which, the new tender was floated and awarded for the purpose of construction of crematorium with an intention to benefit themselves and somebody else.
10. Thus, it prima facie appears that there is a criminal conspiracy, misuse of power and breach of trust on the part of the members of the 4th respondent, due to which, there was a huge financial loss to the ex-chequers. This aspect is required to be enquired by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and in the event, if any case is made out, necessarily, the CBI is directed to take suitable action against the wrong doers in accordance with law. Therefore, the CBI is directed to conduct investigation on the aspect of criminal conspiracy, misuse of power, breach of trust, etc., by the 3rd & 4th respondents.
11. Therefore, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), AntiCorruption Branch, 3rd Floor, Shastri Bhawan, No.26, Haddows Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai – 600 006 is suo motu impleaded as one of the respondents in this writ petition. Dr.B.Ramaswamy, learned Central
Government Standing counsel, takes notice on behalf of the CBI.
12. That apart, in the present case, as stated above, since the contract was awarded to the petitioner and an agreement was entered into for the construction of Crematorium at free of cost, the floating of new tender would certainly not
only cause huge loss to the ex-chequers but also abuse of power by the 3rd & 4th respondents.
13. Therefore, the above aspect is required to be enquired by the
Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). Thus, the Comptroller and
Auditor General (CAG) of India, located at Pocket-9, Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya Marg, New Delhi 110 124, also having office at The Principal
Accountant General (Audit – I), Audit Bhavan, 361, Anna Salai, Teynampet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu – 600018 is suo motu impleaded as one of
the respondents in this writ petition.
14. The CAG is directed to verify the loss incurred by the ex-chequers and the violation of rules and regulations, due to the construction of Electric Crematorium by the Municipality by floating the new tender ignoring the agreement, which was already entered into by the Municipality with the petitioner as early as on 06.10.2015. While calculating the loss, the CAG shall take into consideration of the valuable resources and human labour forces, which were wasted for the halfway constructed Crematorium by the petitioner.
15. The CBI and CAG shall file their interim reports before this Court on or before the next date of hearing. The CAG is directed to furnish its report to CBI, so as to enable the CBI to take appropriate action, in accordance with law, which includes the filing of FIR and proceeding further.
16. Issue notice to CAG, returnable by 15.06.2026. Private notice is also permitted.
17. Post this matter on 15.06.2026 for filing the interim report.
10-04-2026
Index: Yes/No
Speaking/Non-speaking order
Neutral Citation: Yes/No
KKN/nsa
To
1. The District Collector,
District Collector Office, Tiruppur.
2. The Tahsildar,
Tahsildar Office, Palladam, Tiruppur District.
3. The Block Development Officer,
Palladam Panchayat Union, Palladam, Tiruppur District.
4. The President,
Panikkampatti Village and Panchayat,
Panikkampatti, Palladam Taluk, Tiruppur District.
5. The Deputy Director,
Town and Country Planning Department, Coimbatore Zone, Corporation Commercial Complex, Dr.Nanjappa Road, Coimbatore- 18.
6. The Additional Director,
Town and Country Planning Department,
Tiruppur Zone, 1st Floor, Kumaran Commercial Complex, Tiruppur- 641 601.
7. The District Environmental Engineer,
Tiruppur South, Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board, Pollachi Bye Pass, Palladam, Tiruppur District.
Copy to:
8.The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),
Anti-Corruption Branch, 3rd Floor, Shastri Bhawan,
No.26, Haddows Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai – 600 006
9.The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, located at Pocket-9, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, New Delhi 110 124, also having office at
The Principal Accountant General (Audit – I),
Audit Bhavan, 361, Anna Salai,
Teynampet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu – 600018
KRISHNAN RAMASAMY, J.
KKN
WP No. 9959 of 2021
10-04-2026