CHENNAI: A Division Bench of the Madras High Court has reserved for April 27, orders on a plea from S Nalini, one of the convicts in the assassination case of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, seeking premature release.Presently serving life sentence in the special prison for women in Vellore, Nalini had challenged the order of a single judge who granted liberty to the State government to consider her representation for premature release, subject to the outcome of the petition pending before the Supreme Court.
The Bench of Justices K K Sasidharan and R Subramanian reserved their orders on the appeal filed by Nalini, after hearing the elaborate arguments from both sides.According to the petitioner, the State government framed a scheme under Article 161 of the Constitution in 1994 to release life convicts, who had completed 20 years of actual imprisonment. Nalini, who had completed over 25 years in prison, sent a representation on February 22, 2014, to the State for premature release. Since there was no response, she filed a petition and a single judge then directed the State to consider her representation, subject to the outcome of the petition pending before the Supreme Court.
Against this order, Nalini filed the present appeal. There was no bar on the State government to exercise its power under Article 161, she contended.Advocate-General Vijay Narayan submitted that the present issue was completely covered by the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of the petitioner herself. The State had decided to release Nalini, but the Centre had challenged it before the Supreme Court on the ground that the State could not decide without getting concurrence from the Centre as the case was investigated by the CBI. The apex court has passed an interim order against the State government and it is still pending. Therefore, the State cannot act now, he added.
Hotel restrained from using trademarked name
Chennai: The Dindigul Thalappakatttu Restaurant located in Narayanapuram in Tiruvallur has been restrained from using the words ‘Thalappakattu Briyani Hotel’. Justice C V Karthikeyan granted the injunction while passing interim orders on a civil suit from Thalappakkatti Naidu Ananda Vilas Briyani Hotel, Chennai, on Monday. The suit prayed for an injunction restraining the Dindigul Thalappakatttu Restaurant from in any manner infringing on the trade mark and trading style ‘Thalappakatti Briyani Hotel’.