This morning, the Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu government to respond to Tamil Film Producers’ Council (TFPC) president Vishal Krishna’s claims of wrongful action against the council. The order was in response to actor Vishal’s plea against the government’s recent appointment of a special officer to manage council affairs.
Vishal’s counsel argued in court that based on inadequate investigation the special officer had been appointed by the Inspector of Registrations, Tamil Nadu government. TFPC general secretary SS Durairaj told Silverscreen that they said this was unlawful and would disturb TFPC’s daily activities. “The investigation was carried out based on one person’s complaint. Vishal’s counsel said that we were not given prior intimation regarding the appointment of special officer, and the government’s investigation was inadequate,” he said.
The government’s counsel reportedly refuted these claims in court, and added that special officer N Sekhar would manage council affairs only till issues of mismanagement are set right and elections are conducted. After this all council affairs will be handed over to the newly appointed members, they argued.
The Madras High Court directed the state government to submit their response to Vishal’s allegations with details regarding the investigation by May 7. The next hearing will happen on May 13.
Meanwhile, special officer Sekhar also announced today that the annual general body meeting, scheduled to happen on May 1, stands cancelled.
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The investigation report by the Tamil Nadu government was issued to TFPC on Saturday. The report stated that three of the allegations submitted by dissenting producers were proved, and the office bearers’ response to the government’s show cause notice last month did not hold water.
The investigation proved that the expenditure of the council has run into several crores without passing the test of approval by the general body, general body meetings were not conducted, and pension, gifts and financial aid for weddings were issued to council members in violation of the provisions under Tamil Nadu Societies Regulation Act. However, the investigation also found that the charge that Vishal had “cancelled the fixed deposit of Rs 7 crore and utilised the same” was not substantiated.
The dissenting producers had alleged that the council spent around Rs 7.8 crore without informing the general body. Details regarding the amount spent is yet to be investigated.
