The Madras High Court has impleaded the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) and Gen Logistics as parties in a petition filed by YouTuber A Shankar, popularly known as Savukku Shankar. The plea seeks a CBI investigation into the alleged corruption under the Annal Ambedkar Business Champions Scheme (AABCS), which was introduced to uplift Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu.
Shankar alleged that the implementation of the AABCS scheme was arbitrarily outsourced to DICCI, a non-statutory private organization, which led to large-scale misuse of public funds. He argued that such delegation of responsibility violated the government's own rules and guidelines and undermined the scheme’s purpose.
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The matter came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Justice G.R. Swaminathan and Justice V. Lakshminarayan. During the proceedings, the Court noted:
“When the matter was taken up today, for reasons not clear, neither the DICCI nor the Gen Logistics have chosen to appear before us despite being given liberty by the Supreme Court. The impleading petition is allowed and DICCI and Gen Logistics have been impleaded as respondents. Thus, we have adhered to the orders passed by the Supreme Court.”
The impleading was allowed even though the Supreme Court had earlier paused a direction issued by the Madras High Court asking the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) to furnish details of the scheme. The apex court had questioned the urgency behind the vacation bench taking up the matter without hearing DICCI.
Despite the Supreme Court's direction, neither DICCI nor Gen Logistics appeared before the High Court on the day of hearing. Taking note of this, the High Court allowed the impleading and scheduled the matter for further hearing on Friday. It also directed an officer from the CMWSSB to appear in court to assist with any queries regarding the scheme.
In his petition, Shankar has urged the Court to instruct the CBI to register an FIR based on his complaint. He accused officials of sanctioning funds under both the NAMASTE and AABCS schemes to ineligible individuals who were not sanitation workers. According to Shankar, DICCI and Gen Green Logistics played key roles in the irregularities.
He claimed that although the Industries Commissioner and Director of Industries & Commerce (ICDIC) was appointed as the nodal agency for implementing AABCS, the responsibility was instead handed over to DICCI through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which he alleged was signed unlawfully by the government.
Shankar also pointed out that after this MoU, DICCI recommended several individuals as beneficiaries who were allegedly affiliated with the Congress Party’s SC/ST wing and closely associated with Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) President Selvaperungathai. He claimed that these beneficiaries also secured tenders issued by the CMWSSB for hiring vehicles with jet-rodding equipment for cleaning work in Chennai.
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“These beneficiaries were not independent entrepreneurs but close aides of political figures, and were funneled government funds through a leasing arrangement with Gen Logistics,” Shankar alleged.
He further claimed that Gen Logistics entered into leasing agreements with these selected individuals and directly received payments from the government. This, according to him, resulted in misappropriation of a substantial portion of the scheme’s funds.
The outcome of this case could have significant implications for accountability in the disbursement of government welfare schemes and the role of private bodies in public fund management.
