Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
The Madras High Court has taken up suo motu revision of a 2012 order dismissing former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) in a corruption case. This is the fourth suo motu revision by Justice N Anand Venkatesh. The hearing will be held on September 7th.
Justice Anand had taken up suo moto revision of orders discharging K Ponmudy (Minister for Higher Education), Thangam Thennarasu (Minister for Finance and Human Resources Management) and KKSSR Ramachandran (Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management). That is three Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) ministers in August alone. He warned that if this trend goes unchecked the Special Courts meant for MP/MLA trials would become a “playground for all sorts of condemnable practices which are handcrafted and orchestrated to subvert and derail the criminal justice system.”
DMK stated they would appeal to the Apex Court against the High Court’s action. The party’s organising secretary R S Bharathi accused Justice Venkatesh of having “malafide intent” by picking and choosing cases suo moto.
The Special Court for MP/MLA Cases (Principal Sessions Judge) in Virudhunagar at Srivilliputhur discharged ministers Thenarasu and Ramachandran in December 2022 and July 2023 respectively. The disproportionate assets cases were filed against them during the former AIADMK government.