In an effort to resurrect corruption cases against numerous Tamil Nadu politicians, including sitting ministers, the Supreme Court on Monday requested the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court to make a new decision regarding which judge or judges should hear suo motu proceedings. The proceedings were started last year.
The decision was made by a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra in response to appeals from two ministers who had been impacted by suo motu orders. We think it appropriate to state that the Hon’ble Chief Justice should consider suo motu matters; he may choose to present the case to another judge or to consider it himself. After that, the case will be heard on its merits. arranged in that order. It is not appropriate to read the aforementioned order as offering commentary on the knowledgeable judges who are hearing the suo motu matters. “The applications are dismissed,” ordered the highest court. Curiously, Justice Mishra made a quick observation as the hearing came to an end regarding the fact that Tamil Nadu ministers were getting off lightly in numerous cases against them.
The judge said, “The sessions’ judges in Tamil Nadu are acquitting all ministers!” The case before the Supreme Court involved corruption allegations against several Tamil Nadu ministers that had been closed before being reopened by Madras High Court Judge Anand Venkatesh via suo motu rulings made in the previous year. Justice Venkatesh questioned the validity of special court rulings that dismissed Tamil Nadu ministers in cases involving disproportionate assets during these suo motu revision processes. Justice Venkatesh said in one such August 2018 High Court ruling that the prosecution and the accused had both played a “perfect game.”
As a result, it sent notices to the two accused ministers: Thangam Thenarasu, the minister of human resource management, and KKSSR Ramachandran, the state minister for revenue and disaster management. The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has accused ministers and their spouses of amassing assets that were out of proportion to their recognised sources of income between 2006 and 2010. In July 2023 and December 2022, respectively, the two ministers, Ramachandran and Thenarasu, were released from their trials involving disproportionate assets.
In their submissions before the Supreme Court, both ministers contested the High Court’s suo motu decision to resurrect these matters. The Supreme Court retaliated by requesting a report from the Madras High Court’s Registrar General regarding the procedures followed by the High Court in granting suo motu orders to reinstate corruption charges involving KKSSR Ramachandran, Thangam Thennarasu, and other ministers.
The purpose of the report was to define Justice Anand Venkatesh’s jurisdiction, which was used to make the suo motu revision orders. The paper also aimed to elucidate whether the exercise of such suo motu authority was contingent upon receiving prior approval from the Chief Justice of the High Court. Today’s hearing covered the report that was filed in this manner. The minister’s legal representative contended that the suo motu directives might be disastrous. The report also informed the highest court that the suo motu orders were passed without the Chief Justice’s prior permission.
On the other hand, the High Court’s attorney clarified that approval was acquired in accordance with the relevant regulations. Judge Roy made a suggestion today that Justice Venkatesh should have brought the case before the Chief Justice first. “It was after suo motu authority was exercised that he (the Chief Justice) first saw it (the file of the first suo motu order). Not “please number it after approval from the Chief Justice,” but “please number it (to Registry),” was what Justice Anand Venkatesh had said. Although we don’t want to comment there, we believe that he (Justice Anand) should not have done it,” Justice Roy remarked.
In order to resolve the issue, the Supreme Court asked the Chief Justice to make a new decision about who would hear the suo motu cases going forward. In the meantime, in light of the Supreme Court’s actions today, the suo motu cases were listed before Justice Venkatesh today but were postponed until Wednesday, February 7.
