Madras High Court orders CBI probe into fake NOCs used to establish fuel outlets

The Madras High Court has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into hundreds of retail outlets of petrol, diesel and auto gas having been established across the State on the strength of fake No Objection Certificates (NOCs) reportedly issued by Collectors and Commissioners of Police before 2020.

First Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan directed the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) to handover the entire case files to the CBI officials. The direction was issued after expressing dissatisfaction over the probe conducted by the CB-CID.

The Bench pointed out that the fake NOC racket in the State had come to light during the hearing of a random habeas corpus petition by Justices N. Kirubakaran (since retired) and P. Velmurugan in October 2020. That petition was related to preventive detention of two individuals named K.L. Sivakumar and C. Jayaprakash.

Then, the Bench found they had been accused of issuing fake NOCs with the seal of the Greater Chennai City Commissioner of Police. Suspecting that the crime could not have been be limited to Chennai, the judges directed the Director General of Police to verify the records in all districts and submit a detailed report.

Accordingly, the DGP reported to the court as many as 91 fake NOCs appeared to have been used to run fuel outlets across the State. However, after the retirement of Justice Kirubakaran in August 2021, the habeas corpus petition was closed by another Division Bench of the High Court on September 6, 2021.

Thereafter, in 2023, the present writ petition was filed by advocate V.B.R. Menon seeking stern action on the issue. The investigation into the matter was transferred to the CB-CID which began probing the establishment of several fuel outlets in Chennai, Erode and Dindigul districts on the basis of fake NOCs.

Though the court had been seeking periodic progress reports from the CB-CID, the first Division Bench found that the police had taken action against those who had fabricated the records and also the middlemen but there was hardly any action against the beneficiaries who had been operating the fuel outlets using fake NOCs.

The judges observed the crime could not have taken place without the active involvement of the beneficiaries who appeared to have approached the middlemen and paid lakhs of rupees to obtain the NOCs instead of submitting applications to the district administration and the police officials concerned.

“We gave the respondent authorities (CB-CID officials) more than one opportunity to come out with a satisfactory response; but till date, no satisfactory response has come, much less a fair investigation by the concerned investigating agency,” the Division Bench wrote while expressing its anguish.

Authoring the order, the Chief Justice wrote: “The material which is floating at the surface required a much deeper and fair investigation to examine the role of the beneficiaries for whose benefit the entire system was operating.” He said, action had been taken against the beneficiaries only in Erode and Dindigul but not in Chennai.

“We have no hesitation in saying that the manner in which the investigation has been held or any further investigation that is going on, is not in proper direction,” the Bench said before deciding to hand over the investigation to the CBI.