Direct DVAC to register FIR against Finance Minister Marie Wilson, insists PIL plea before Madras High Court

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Finance Minister N. Marie Wilson. File | Photo Credit: PTI

An advocate has approached the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) to register a First Information Report (FIR) on the basis of Finance Minister N. Marie Wilson’s claim in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly that he was a victim of corruption in the School Education Department during the previous DMK regime.

The plea is expected to be listed for hearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan since it had been filed as a public interest litigation (PIL) petition. K. Sivasubramaniam of Chennai had filed the petition seeking a direction to register an FIR against the Minister, as the payment of a bribe was also a criminal offence.

The petitioner stated that Mr. Wilson, during a debate in the Legislative Assembly on August 24, 2026, confessed to being a victim of corrupt practices during the previous regime, when bribe money was allegedly demanded and collected forcibly from educational institutions. The Minister also said that he was a witness to the payment of a bribe and that he knew exactly how much was paid.

Highlighting that not only the receipt of a bribe but also the payment of one to public servants was an offence under Sections 8 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, the PIL petitioner said he lodged a complaint with the DVAC on August 27, 2026, as a result. However, he complained that the law enforcement agency had, so far, not taken any action on his plea to register an FIR against the Minister.

“An open confession of a criminal act made by a Minister inside the Legislative Assembly cannot be dismissed as mere political rhetoric,” the petitioner said and contended that the constitutional immunity granted to legislators, under Article 194(2) of the Constitution, from civil or criminal proceedings with respect to their actions in the House would not provide a shield of immunity for criminal acts.

“While the speech inside the Assembly is recorded in the official transcript, the act of giving a bribe took place outside the Legislative precincts. The official speech serves as a voluntary, unequivocal evidentiary admission of a completed pre-existing criminal act under Section 8 of the PC Act. Privileges under Article 194 cannot be weaponised to bar law enforcement from investigating independent cognisable crimes admitted by public functionaries,” his affidavit read.

Further, claiming that former School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi had subsequently levelled certain allegations of irregularities against Mr. Wilson’s educational institutions, the petitioner insisted that the allegations against the sitting Minister, too, must be probed by the DVAC.

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