High Court Rejects Velumani Tax Challenge Petition

The Madras High Court on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, dismissed a petition filed by former All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) Minister S. P. Velumani. He had filed the case in 2023 to challenge an order passed by the Income Tax Department in 2022.

The Income Tax department had earlier found that Velumani had given ₹7 crore in cash to a company called SRS Mining. According to the department, this money was meant to be distributed across different constituencies during the 2016 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.

Justice C. Saravanan dismissed the petition. However, the court allowed Velumani the option to file a proper appeal through the legal process.

During the hearing, the Income Tax Department’s lawyer, A. P. Srinivas, argued that Velumani should not have directly approached the High Court. Instead, he should have first used the standard legal process by filing an appeal with the appropriate authority under the Income Tax Act, 1961.

The court agreed with this argument and said that the correct procedure must be followed before approaching higher courts.

Overall, the judgment means that Velumani’s petition has been rejected for now, but he still has the option to challenge the order through the proper legal channels.