Minister velani case A-G’s stand


TAMIL NADU

CJ to take a call on case against Velumani

S.P. Velumani

Legal CorrespondentCHENNAI 14 MARCH 2020 01:20 ISTUPDATED: 14 MARCH 2020 01:20 IST

Plea to list case before same judge

Chief Justice of Madras High Court Amreshwar Pratap Sahi will now take a call on whether a case about allegation of corrupt practices against Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani should be heard by a Bench, led by Justice M. Sathyanarayanan who had dealt with the matter on earlier occasions or Justice M.M. Sundresh who holds the portfolio at present.

When the case was listed before Justices Sundresh and Krishnan Ramasamy on Friday, advocate V. Suresh, representing the litigant Jayaram Venkatesan of NGO Arappor Iyakkam, said he had given a letter to the Registrar (Judicial) on Thursday with a request that the hearing be continued before Justice Sathyanarayanan since he had heard the matter substantially.

Senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan, representing the Chennai Corporation, Advocate-General Vijay Narayan appearing for the State government, State Public Prosecutor A. Natarajan for Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption and senior counsel AR.L. Sundaresan, holding the brief for Mr. Velumani in his individual capacity, opposed the plea.Advertising

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A-G’s stand

While the A-G told the court that he was not aware of any letter given to the Registry, Mr. Vaidyanathan said nothing survived in the present case to be heard by another Bench since a preliminary inquiry conducted by the DVAC did not find any truth in the charges and therefore the government had dropped all proceedings after accepting the DVAC report.

Mr. Sundaresan said the High Court rules clearly stated that all part heard matters would get released from the list of the judge concerned on change of roster and should be listed before the portfolio judge. The only exception to the rule was when lawyers on both sides make a joint representation for listing a matter before a particular judge to avoid arguing the case once again.

Since no such joint representation had been made in the present case, it should be heard by the portfolio Bench, he said. However, Justice Sundresh told the counsel that it would be appropriate to await the decision of the Chief Justice since the petitioner’s lawyer had already made a representation and The judge adjourned the case to April 7.

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