With Vellore Mayor and the Samattur town panchayat chairperson tendering an apology “from the heart” to the Madras High Court for offensive and derogatory remarks against the judiciary, the Madras High Court on Thursday expressed the hope that what happened would not recur.
“It is this hope which is restraining us from taking any further action against the two,” said the First Bench, of Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan. Mayor P. Karthiyayini and town panchayat chairperson S.K. Chitra should publicise their apology and issue a press release, the Bench said.
The statements were made after the former Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, was convicted in the disproportionate assets case. R.S. Bharathi filed a petition, condemning the unpalatable language in which the special court’s judgment was commented upon.
Accepting the apology, the court said a copy of the affidavit should be sent to John Michael D.Cunha, the then Special Judge and now Registrar (Vigilance) of the Karnataka High Court.
The Bench also directed the town panchayat to expunge the September 30 resolution from its record.
Senior counsel P. Wilson said the resolution could be cancelled only by the State government under the District Municipalities Act.
Ordering the government to take steps within a week to drop the resolution, the Bench treated the petition as closed.
