The Madras High Court has asked the Tamil Nadu Government and actor-TFPC president Vishal Krishna to respond to producer R Radhakrishnan’s petition asking why the Tamil Film Producers’ Council has not held elections even though the term of the present office bearers came to an end on April 1.
According to a report by News 18, Justice Aadikesavalu heard the petition filed by Radhakrishnan, a former general secretary of TFPC and one of the producers dissenting against alleged misappropriation at the council. Speaking to Silverscreen, he said that he asked the Court for a directive to conduct elections as per procedure. “I filed the case against the Government’s special officer since he is currently managing the Council. Their counsel has asked for time to respond, so the case has been pushed to July 16. On that day, the court will declare elections and appoint a retired judge to preside over the elections,” he said.
Further, Vishal had filed a case against the Tamil Nadu Government’s appointment of special officer N Sekhar to investigate misappropriations and manage Council affairs. This will also be heard on July 16, the Court said.
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The special officer was appointed on April 27 after almost a year of controversy. Soon after he took charge, he formed an ad-hoc committee as an advisory body with producers such as Bharathiraaja, K Rajan, T Siva and R Radhakrishnan, who have been dissenting against the Council. SS Durairaj, the current general secretary, was the only member from Vishal’s side on the committee. Vishal and the office bearers opposed this and asked for a stay on the formation of the committee, but the Madras HC declined their petition after the Government’s counsel said they will be assisting N Sekhar and will not take administrative decisions.
As per the Government order in April, allegations of non-transparency and fund-mismanagement by the Council were proved, and the special officer was appointed to take speedy action to set right problems, and hand over management to TFPC after conducting elections within a year.