CHENNAI: In a significant order that is likely to have legal and political ramifications, the Madras High Court on Wednesday set aside the orders of a trial court, discharging incumbent Ministers KKSSR Ramachandran and Thangam Thennarasu of DMK from two separate disproportionate assets (DA) cases filed against them.
The court sent the cases back to the trial court and ordered it to conduct trial expeditiously to take the cases to their logical conclusion.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh, who had initiated the suo motu revision cases after finding issues in the manner in which the ministers were discharged by the trial court, delivered the verdict.
Restoring the cases on the file of the trial court, which is the special court for cases under Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), Principal District and Sessions Court of Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district, the judge ordered that the ‘final closure report’ filed in the cases by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) be treated as a ‘supplementary report’.
“As prima facie materials are available to frame charges, the special court shall proceed to frame charges, and thereafter, proceed in accordance with the law,” he said in the order.
Consequently, Justice Venkatesh, dismissed the discharge petitions filed by the ministers and the other accused persons in the case.
He directed Ramachandran and the other accused in his case to appear before the special court on September 9, 2024 and Thennarasu and the others accused in his case to appear on September 11, 2024 to furnish bonds with or without surety.
The trial court was further directed to ‘conduct the trial on day-to-day basis’ and dispose the cases as expeditiously as possible. However, he added that the High Court has not commented on the merits of the case, and therefore, the cases can be decided by the special court ‘without being influenced’ by any of the comments.
Justice Venkatesh took up the suo motu revision against the orders of the trial court passed in 2022 and 2023 to respectively discharge Thennarasu and Ramachandran from the DA cases. The trial court had given a clean chit to the ministers, following the DVAC’s submission of an “additional final report” following a “further investigation”.
The judge said that stated that there was a ‘pattern’ in the manner the “further investigation” was held and the submission of the additional report, that too only after the politicians concerned came back to power (in 2021).
He had said that such favours to political leaders alone by the DVAC cannot be let go without being questioned. Similar suo motu revision cases were initiated against another incumbent minister K Ponmudy, former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and former minister B Valarmathi.
While delivering the judgement on Wednesday, Justice Anand Venkatesh quoted James Jeffrey Roache’s poem “The net of law is spread so wide, No sinner from its sweep may hide. Its meshes are so fine and strong, They take in every child of wrong. O wondrous web of mystery! Big fish alone escape from thee!”.