A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging the Tamil Nadu government's appointment of a one-man Commission of Inquiry headed by retired Madras High Court judge, Justice A. Arumughaswamy, to probe the death of AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa.
“Party MLAs are involved in the whole episode of hospitalisation, treatment, death of the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Ms. Dr. J. Jayalalithaa. There is every possibility of influence, pressure, bias when it comes to a commission constituted by the state government themselves, the present commission cannot be expected to do an independent inquiry...” the petition filed by Chennai resident P.A. Joseph, represented by advocate G. Sivabalamurugan, alleged.
The petition, which arraigns the State government and the Legislative Assembly as respondents, said the “present inquiry is clearly an in-house inquiry and there is every possibility of bias and likelihood of tampering of records”.
The special leave petition was filed in the Supreme Court after the Madras High Court chose to dismiss the allegations in an order on October 4, 2017.
The petition in the apex court primarily contends that the Commission of Inquiry was set up by the Tamil Nadu government unilaterally without prior legislative debate or resolution.
The petition contended that the prior resolution by the Parliament or the State Legislative Assembly is mandated under Section 3 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952.
Mr. Joseph termed the High Court order of October 4 as a “glaring illustration of the misinterpretation of Section 3 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952”.
The petition in the apex court argued that High Court erred in holding that a resolution from the legislature was not mandatory and a mere opinion of the government itself was enough to constitute a commission under the 1952 Act.
The petition sought an interim ex-parte stay on the government orders issued on September 25 and September 27 for setting up the Commission of Inquiry.
“The Commission was fixed with a time limit of three months to submit its report. Hence there is a great urgency,” the petition said.
