Resume Jaya death probe, AIADMK man pleads in apex court

CITY
Resume Jaya deathprobe, AIADMK man pleads in apex court
TNN | Aug 27, 2020, 04:53 IST
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Chennai: A Madurai-based AIADMK worker has approached the Supreme Court to restart the functioning of the one-man judicial commission constituted by Tamil Nadu government to probe the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The commission has been put on hibernation for over a year due to a stay issued by the apex court.
Filing the petition as an intervener in the special leave petition of Apollo Hospitals, Vedha alias V Dhamodharan said he had approached the court on behalf of “crores of public” who were awaiting the findings of the commission on the circumstances leading to the late chief minister’s hospitalisation on September 22, 2016. He said the commission must be permitted to inquire at least the non-medical aspects of the issue.
Dhamodharan pointed out that the term of the commission headed by former judge of Madras high court Justice A Arumughaswamy was extended for the eighth time on June 24, and added: “Such extension of tenure of the commission without the actual functioning is not only a burden on the exchequer but also leads to dilution of the purpose of the commission.”
On September 25, 2017 the state government constituted the committee to inquire the circumstances that lead to the death of Jayalalithaa and the treatment provided till her death.
In April 2019, Apollo moved the Madras high court challenging the proceedings of the commission into the correctness of the medical treatment provided to Jayalalithaa. The hospital contended that the commission cannot go into such issues without the assistance of a medical expert team.
Refusing to allow the petition, a division bench of the high court dismissed Apollo’s plea. Aggrieved, the hospital moved the present appeal before the Apex Court.
Admitting the appeal, the Supreme Court on April 26, 2019 passed an interim stay against the functioning of the commission till further order