CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Monday directed the Tamil Nadu government to file an additional counter-affidavit to the petition filed by Nalini, one of the seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, seeking premature release without the consent of the Governor.
The court also directed the State to file a counter-affidavit to a similar petition preferred by another convict Ravichandran. When the petitions came up for hearing before the first bench of Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice PD Audikesavalu, Tamil Nadu Advocate General (AG) R Shanmugasundaram informed the court that a petition filed by another convict in the assassination case, AG Perarivalan, is coming up before the Supreme Court on December 7.
However, referring to the counter-affidavit to Nalini’s petition, the ACJ said it was not having much information and directed the AG to file an additional counter-affidavit. “We would like to defer (the petitions) as the case of other accused (Perarivalan) is coming up before the Supreme Court. Let the Supreme Court take its decision, accordingly we will take a call,” he said when Nalini’s counsel M Radhakrishnan contended that Perarivalan’s petition had nothing to do with her plea.
“Perarivalan has knocked the doors of the apex court seeking a copy of the report of the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Authority which had gone into the larger conspiracy behind the assassination... The Tamil Nadu Cabinet’s recommendation to the Governor to issue orders for releasing the seven convicts has been pending for 39 months. We have been praying for declaring Governor’s delay as unconstitutional and nothing in this regard is pending before the Supreme Court,” Radhakrishnan stated.
However, the ACJ said the matter can be taken up after seeing the outcome of Perarivalan’s case in the apex court and directed the State to file the additional counter-affidavit. It may be noted that the Tamil Nadu government, in its counter-affidavit filed to Nalin’s plea, wanted the court to dismiss her petition. It cited the Centre informing the Supreme Court that the Governor had said the President would be appropriate authority to take a decision on the recommendation of the State Cabinet. Meanwhile, the AG, while talking to reporters said there was no change in the stand of Tamil Nadu government on the matter of premature release of all the seven convicts.
Adjourned for three weeks
When Ravichandran’s counsel mentioned about a similar plea for premature release without consent of the Governor, the ACJ asked the State to file a counter-affidavit for it as well. Both the petitions were adjourned for three weeks