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HC resumes hearing in DA cases against 3 TN leaders
DVAC moved hc challenging the discharge or acquittal of six heavy weight politicians of DMK and AIADMK
The Madras high court on Friday continued to hear the suo motu revisions taken up against sitting ministers Thangam Thennarasu (finance), KKSSR Ramachandran (revenue) under the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government and against former chief minister and AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam (OPS).
Tamil Nadu’s advocate general PS Raman argued on behalf of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), who had registered the cases against them. Justice Anand Venkatesh then posted the case for further arguments on June 11.
This is part of the revision cases which justice Venkatesh had taken up suo motu against the discharge or acquittal of six heavy weight politicians of the DMK and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The other leaders in the dock are K Ponmudi (higher education) I Periyasamy (rural development minister) and former AIADMK minister B Valarmathi. All cases were registered by the DVAC.
In 2012, the DVAC booked Thennarasu and his wife Manimegalai for amassing wealth between 2006 - 2010 when he was the education minister of the then DMK regime. After the DMK came back to power in 2021, the couple were discharged by the Srivilliputhur special court. A disproportionate assets case was registered against minister Ramachandran and his wife, Aadhilakshmi, in 2011.
The Virudhunagar principal district court (Special Court) had discharged them after the DMK came to power.
OPS had moved the Supreme Court against the HC taking up the revision case against him which the top court dismissed earlier in March. OPS had argued in the HC that the prosecution initiated against him was due to political differences. The case against him pertains to a disproportionate assets case in which a special court in Sivaganga district discharged him in 2012.
The DVAC under the DMK regime had registered a case against OPS for accumulating wealth amounting to 1.7 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2001 and 2001 when he was revenue minister. In 2012, the AIADMK came back to power.
Justice Venkatesh last year said that he believed that the discharge of OPS in 2012 set the pattern for the discharge of elected representatives every time the regime changed between the DMK and AIADMK.
In August 2023, he said: “It is a shame on the criminal justice delivery system. DVAC has unfortunately become a chameleon and has begun to take its colours depending upon who is in power. Unfortunately, courts have also acted in tandem.”
“If you expect the High Court to close its eyes to such systemic failure then we will be failing in our constitutional duty. A party, B party is not our headache. We have to only ensure that the system is not broken down. This case (against OPS) is the starting point,” he added.
OPS, however, was expelled from the AIADMK in 2022. He contested the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections as an independent with the backing of the BJP in Ramanathapuram seat to be the runner up.
