CHENNAI: Hardly an hour after the portrait of the former chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa was unveiled at the Assembly premises in the State Secretariat, the DMK has approached the first bench presided over by Chief Justice Indira Banerjee to remove the portrait.
Jayalalithaa had been found guilty in the disproportionate assets case by the Supreme Court, DMK MLA J Anbazhagan, alleged.
An urgent submission to this effect was made by senior advocate P Wilson before the bench, the other judge being Justice Abdul Guddhose, when it started its business at 10.30 am.
The CJ, however, advised Wilson to file a writ petition which will be taken up for hearing in the usual course on Tuesday.
According to the petitioner, Jayalalithaa was found guilty of corruption charges, of which she was originally convicted by a Special Court in Bengaluru. This order, however, was set aside by the Karnataka High Court.
On an appeal, the Supreme Court had found all the accused including Jayalalithaa, guilty of corruption charges. However, in view of her death, the charges against her alone was abated. The charges against the other accused — V K Sasikala, her relatives Ilavarasi and V N Sudhagaran — were confirmed. Following which, they were sentenced to four years imprisonment with fine of Rs 100 crores each.
Wilson contended that unveiling the portrait of Jayalalithaa would set a bad precedent. The action was unconstitutional, tainted with illegality, besides highly arbitrary, unreasonable and reeks of malice in law. "It is antithetical to the standards of morality and probity enshrined in the Constitution and expounded by the Supreme Court from time to time," he added.
The portrait of Jayalalithaa was unveiled in the Assembly hall in the presence of chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam.
Leader of Opposition, M K Stalin, MLAs belonging to DMK, Congress and IUML boycotted the function in this regard. Two MLAs supporting T T V Dhinakaran attended the function. Deputy speaker of Lok Sabha M Thambidurai and former speaker of Tamil Nadu Assembly P H Pandian were among those present on the occasion.
Chief minister, deputy chief minister and the speaker recalled the achievements of Jayalalithaa and her contribution to the society throughout her political career. D Mathialagan, the artist who has drawn the portrait of Jayalalithaa, was honoured on the occasion. He said it took three months to complete the portrait.