The first Bench of the Madras High Court headed by Chief Justice S.K. Kaul on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation petition, seeking a direction to the authorities to come out with the “real” status of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s health condition. The court dubbed the petition as “publicity interest litigation” and warned the petitioner ‘Traffic’ K.R. Ramaswamy not to use the judicial forum for political purposes.
In their order, Chief Justice Kaul and Justice R. Mahadevan said: “No doubt, the health of the Chief Minister would be a concern for the citizens, but then it is pleaded and press reports suggest that medical bulletins are being issued by the hospital. That should suffice rather than any inquisition the petitioner wants to make…” The court said: “A balance has to be maintained between the aspects of privacy and public awareness in this behalf. We feel the regular bulletins from the hospital would suffice and it is up to the State government to see if some more information is required to be put in the public domain.”
The petitioner had submitted that the Chief Minister was admitted to the hospital with high fever and a press report was released saying she was on her way to recovery. But, then, “unfortunately,” suddenly an expert from London Bridge Hospital, Dr. Richard John Beale, arrived to treat Ms Jayalalithaa. The judges said: “We are unable to appreciate what is unfortunate about expert medical opinions sought to be obtained.”
To Mr. Ramaswamy’s contention that he is disturbed by the developments, the Bench said: “The fact remains that he has filed various PIL pleas, contested elections and is a critic of the current State government.” Pointing to the prayer to appoint an ad-hoc Chief Minister till Ms. Jayalalithaa recovers fully; the court said the petition is nothing but a publicity interest litigation.
