Giving reasons for having taken suo motu revision against the discharge of Revenue Minister K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran and Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu from disproportionate assets cases, the Madras High Court on Wednesday said: “There are several things that are seriously amiss. The accused, the prosecution and the special court have acted in tandem to reduce the administration of criminal justice system to a complete farce.”
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, holding the portfolio for cases against MPs and MLAs in the High Court, pointed out that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) had registered the two cases in 2011 and filed charge-sheets in 2012. However, after the accused became Ministers once again in 2021, the DVAC did a volte face by filing a closure report, and the special court for MP/MLA cases in Srivilliputtur accepted it.
He wondered how the special court, which had already taken cognisance of the charge-sheets in 2013, could have accepted the closure reports filed by the DVAC in October 2022 after taking up further investigation in the two cases in September 2021. “There was nothing ‘further’ about the ‘further investigation’ except the fact that it was designed to further the objectives of the accused,” the judge wrote in his order deciding to take up the suo motu revision.
