Suo motu case on TN ministers: SC seeks HC registrar’s report

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court in a recent order has questioned the suo motu powers of a judge of the Madras High Court in initiating suo motu proceedings to restore series of corruption cases against sitting and former ministers. The apex court division bench headed by Justice Hrishikesh Roy and comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra asked the Madras HC registrar general to file a detailed response by February 5. It also wanted to know whether prior approval of the high court’s Chief Justice was obtained before exercising such suo motu jurisdiction. The top court also asked the registry to apprise it as to what is the jurisdiction of the single-judge of the Madras HC, Justice N Anand Venkatesh, who had passed a series of suo motu revision orders to restore corruption cases against six ministers, including Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management KKSSR Ramachandran and Minister for Human Resource Management Thangam Thennarasu. The SC was hearing an appeal filed by Ramachandran, challenging the suo motu proceedings against their discharge in an alleged disproportionate assets cases by trial courts. The Virudhunagar principal district court had in July last discharged three persons, including Ramachandran and his wife Aadhilakshmi in a DA case registered against them in 2011. Justice Venkatesh had also passed individual orders against two detailing the reasons for the revision and issued notice to the accused. . No SC relief for Ponmudy New Delhi: The Supreme Court has refused interim stay on three-year jail sentence of former DMK minister K Ponmudy and his wife P Visalakshi in a disproportionate assets case. The apex court’s two-judge bench passed the order on Monday on an appeal filed by the couple. The top court also issued notice to Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption asking to reply to appeal within four weeks.