A petition was moved on Monday in the Supreme Court to stay the swearing-in ceremony of Sasikala Natarajan as the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
A former aide of Ms. Jayalalithaa, Ms. Natarajan is poised to take over the reins of the State from O. Panneerselvam, who resigned as Chief Minister of the State on Sunday.
The petition filed by a Tamil Nadu-based lawyer, Senthil Kumar, has made the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, AIADMK General Secretary and Ms. Natarajan as respondent parties in the writ petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution.
In it, Mr. Kumar contended that the State would witness riots if Ms. Natarajan, once made Chief Minister, is forced to resign in case the Supreme Court overturns the order of acquittal of the Karnataka High Court in the disproportionate assets (DA) case pending in the apex court.
“There is a possibility that riots will erupt all over Tamil Nadu, which is already facing a desperate situation due to cyclone, demonetisation, and death of its CM (Ms. Jayalalithaa), and hence it is imperative that fresh crisis is not created,” the petition said.
Ms. Natarajan is an accused in the DA case. On Monday, Justice P.C. Ghose, the lead judge on the Bench which heard the appeals filed by Karnataka against the acquittal order of May 11, 2015, indicated that the judgment in the DA case is likely to be pronounced in a week's time.
The petition said the DA case had become a “symbol of delay in our justice system”. It had dragged on for 18 years till the Supreme Court intervened to order the completion of the trial. Mr. Kumar termed the DA case as a “Bible for some unscrupulous persons who want to drag their case”.
The petition alleged that after Ms. Jayalalithaa passed away on December 5, 2016 while holding the office of the Chief Minister, a “lot of political gambling and horse trading started in Tamil Nadu, especially in AIADMK party.
