Alagiri denies May 2009 poll charges against him

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Chennai: Former Union minister M.K. Alagiri appeared be­fo­re the Madras High Co­urt on Friday in connection with a case relating to his election from Madurai parliamentary constituency during the May 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Deposing before Justice V. Dhanapalan, Alagiri denied bribing voters in the poll. His counsel T.R Rajagopal posed several questions pertaining to appointment of poll agents, alleged misuse of government vehicles and distribution of dhotis and saris to voters, besides seizure of dhotis by poll observers.
Alagiri said it was incorrect to say Cable Kannan, Gurusamy and Rangasamy were his poll agents. He also denied misuse of government vehicle during the poll and termed as false the contents of some documents, which were shown to him. Justice V. Dhan­ap­alan adjourned the matter to Thursday. Alagiri arri­v­ed at the court at 2.30 p.m remained in the court hall for an hour.Defeated CPI(M) candidate P. Mohan had origina­lly filed an election petition ch­allenging Alagiri’s ele­cti­on. However, after his de­mise, A Lazar substituted himself in place of Mo­h­an in the election petition.
Plea against GAIL on inter-state pipeline
A PIL has been filed in the Madras high court to direct GAIL India Limited to execute the Kochi-Kootanad-Mangalore-Bangalore pipeline project in conformity with the Petroleum and Mineral pipelines (Acquisition of Rights of User in Land) Act in a time bound manner.
A division bench comprising Acting chief justice R K Agrawal and Justice M Sathianarayanan before whom the PIL filed by advocate K Shyam Sundar came up for hearing ordered notice returnable by two weeks to the Union government and GAIL India. According to the petitioner, GAIL was lethargic and not serious in laying gas pipeline network  in TN. The project if not implemented will increase pollution and affect the ecology.
PIL seeks drought relief to farmers
A PIL has been filed in the Madras high court to direct the authorities to disburse drought relief to affected farmers in eight districts after removing the anomalies and mistakes in a G.O. dated February 13, 2013 and without including the crop insurance amount in the relief amount.
A division bench comprising Acting chief justice R K Agrawal and Justice M Sathianarayanan before whom the PIL filed by A P Kalyanasundaram from Nagapattinam came up for hearing. According to Kalyanasundaram, the G.O. had been passed fixing the am­o­u­nt, number of areas and farmers based on a report which was anomalous as the committee did not consist of experts in the field of agriculture or science.
Notice to ECI seeking to derecognise PMK
Madras high court ordered notice to ECI, PMK founder-president Dr S Ramadoss, TN government and seven others on a PIL seeking to direct ECI to de-recognise PMK for allegedly creating caste violence. A division bench comprising Acting chief justice R K Agrawal and Justice M Sathianarayanan posted after two weeks further hearing of the PIL filed by journalist Varaaki.
According to petitioner, PMK party cadres who were en route to the Chithirai Thi­r­u­v­i­zha meeting on April 25 unleashed caste violence in Marakkanam. Furthermore, Kaduvetti Guru, state president of Vanniyar Sangam, S Ramadass and his son and former union minister Anbumani Ramadoss spoke beyond 11 pm in the meeting.
The party cadres also damaged archeological structures. PMK and Vanniyar Sangam were continuously stirring up caste violence and committing atrocities against Dalits. The attitude of PMK and Vanniyar Sangam was against the preamble, Article 14, 17 and 21 of the Constitution, he added.
Meanwhile, Justice K K Sasidharan of the Madras high court dismissed a petition from V Vadivel, an office bearer of PMK, which sought to quash the order of the Assistant Commissioner of Police, refusing permission to conduct a public meeting on June 8 at Adyar.