Madras High Court dismisses plea to recover ₹10 lakh from Governor R.N. Ravi’s media adviser

The Madras High Court has dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition, which sought a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to recover ₹10 lakh, supposedly given by Governor R.N. Ravi to his media and communication adviser S. Thirugnana Sampandam under the discretionary quota.

First Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Sunder Mohan said it was for the Accountant General of Tamil Nadu, and not the court, to consider whether the grant under the discretionary quota was in violation of the Finance Code or not.

S. Gandeeban had filed the PIL petition stating that Article 213 of the Tamil Nadu Financial Code provides for discretionary grant that could be sanctioned by the Governor for public welfare schemes and objects such as charitable donations to institutions of public or quasi public character. The petitioner said the Governor could also sanction the discretionary amount to individuals who deserve assistance from public funds, and all the expenditure incurred under the head of account ‘Discretionary Grants by the Governor’ was subject to audit by the Accountant General.

Further, bringing to the notice of the court that Mr. Sampandam was appointed as media and communication adviser in the Governor’s Secretariat on November 8, 2022, the petitioner said the appointment order stated he would be provided with a functional office space at the Raj Bhavan and report directly to the Governor. The appointment was made on an honorary basis without any salary. However, through a series of RTI Act applications, the litigant had learnt that a sum of ₹10 lakh was disbursed to Mr. Sampandam from the Governor’s discretionary grant.

Stating the media adviser to the Governor could not be considered as a person deserving such a huge grant from public funds, the petitioner said: “It is surprising that this gross irregularity in dealing with public funds has escaped the scrutiny of the Accountant General of Tamil Nadu.”

Informing the court that he had already made a representation to the Finance Secretary on July 29, 2025, for recovering the public money from Mr. Sampandam, he said the official had failed to take any steps so far, forcing him to approach the court for appropriate remedy.