A city court on Thursday directed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her close aide N. Sasikala to appear before it on April 3 to face trial in cases pertaining to alleged failure in the filing of Income Tax returns.
Rejecting a plea to adjourn the case for three weeks, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) R. Dakshinamurthy said: “This court feels that the reasons stated for adjournment are not acceptable in law. Hence, the petition filed by the accused is dismissed. The case is posted for appearance of the accused for questioning and framing of charges. The accused is directed to appear for hearing on April 3.”
He also made it clear that the case would be taken up on a day-to-day basis.
The allegation is that the accused had deliberately failed to file I-T returns for the assessment years 1991-92 and 1992-93.
After the Supreme Court directed that the trial in the cases be completed in four months, the ACMM took up the case on Thursday. A petition was filed on behalf of Ms. Jayalalithaa and Ms. Sasikala for adjournment of the hearing for three weeks on the ground that a clarification petition was filed before the Supreme Court in connection with the judgement passed on their appeals in January.
The Magistrate dismissed the plea of Ms. Jayalalithaa and Ms. Sasikala and adjourned the case to April 3.
