The State government on Tuesday informed the Madras High Court of its decision to withdraw two writ appeals it had filed in 2019 against incumbent Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan. The appeals had been filed during the AIADMK regime against the quashing of a DVAC inquiry into alleged irregularities in the construction of a new Assembly-cum-Secretariat complex between 2008 and 2010.
Appearing before a Division Bench of Justices D. Krishnakumar and P.B. Balaji, Advocate-General R. Shunmugasundaram said the Government Pleader had sent a letter to Registrar (Judicial) of the High Court as early as on July 13, 2023 with a request to list the appeals for withdrawal. Subsequently, on July 24, 2023, former AIADMK MP J. Jayavardhan filed an impleading petition due to a political motive, he said.
The A-G said the issue was between the State and the court, and therefore, a third party had no locus standi to get impleaded in the appeals. He urged the court to let the State government withdraw the appeal. Senior Counsel P. Wilson, representing Mr. Stalin and Mr. Duraimurugan, also made a similar request and cited a Supreme Court judgment to contend that even the courts could not prevent a litigant from withdrawing an appeal.
