NEW DELHI: In a major setback to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, the Supreme Court in its order on Friday rejected his plea challenging the Madras High Court order, initiating a suo motu revision against him in connection with his discharge in a disproportionate assets (DA) case.
"The Special Leave Petition (SLP) (filed by O Panneerselvam) stands dismissed," a two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Hrishikesh Roy and also comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, said in their order.
On December 3, 2012, Chief Judicial Magistrate/Special Judge, Sivagangai in the order discharged Panneerselvam after allowing the withdrawal of the prosecution, and cited that there were no evidence to prosecute him in the DA case.
Then, Justice N Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court, after getting some prima facie material and evidence against him, had initiated a suo motu revision and issued notices to Panneerselvam and many other TN leaders.
Challenging this, the AIADMK leader had filed the appeal in the top court against the Madras HC order, but he failed to get any relief from the SC, despite his best efforts.
It was alleged that when Panneerselvam was serving as the Revenue Minister from May to September 2001 and the Chief Minister from March 2002 to May 2006, of TN, he illegally gathered property and pecuniary resources disproportionate to his sources of income.
Following this, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had conducted a preliminary inquiry against him. A case was registered against him under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
But subsequently, the DVAC filed a closure report against him, after not getting enough evidence to prosecute him.
In another setback to the former CM in a different case, the top court had in January refused to interfere with the August 2023 Madras HC decision that upheld his expulsion from the AIADMK.