Justice Thangaraj quits panel

CHENNAI: Justice S Thangaraj, a retired judge of the Madras High Court, who has been appointed as the oneman commission to probe the alleged irregularities in the construction of the new Secretariat building in Omandoorar Government Estate, has resigned from the post.Additional Government Pleader made a mention to this effect before a division bench comprising Justice D Murugesan and Justice K K Sasidharan, before which writ petitions challenging the appointment of Justice Thangaraj were pending, on Wednesday.The bench directed the Additional Government Pleader to file an affidavit to this effect and posted the matter for Thursday.In their petitions, former DMK minister Thangam Thennarasu and advocate S Vijayalakshmi alleged that Justice Thangaraj was biased.The petitions are likely to be dismissed as they had become infructuous since Justice Thangaraj has resigned.