Corruption charges framed against Jayalalitha
Corruption charges have been framed against former Tamil
Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha Jayaram for illegally granting permission to construct hotels in Kodaikanal, a hill resort, while she was in power.
This is the first of the six corruption cases against her that has reached the trial stage.
On Monday morning, Jayalalitha appeared before Special Judge V
Radhakrishnan in Madras where he read out the charges. Besides the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary, four others have been accused in the case -- former minister
T M Selvaganapathy, former bureaucrat H M Pandey and hoteliers Rakesh Mittal and Palai N Shanmugham.
The accused pleaded not guilty in the case.
The trial will start on October 20. However, evidence recording is likely to be delayed in view of the Madras high court stay on Jayalalitha's petition challenging the appointment of
special judges to try her case.
Jayalalitha's appearance before the special court was marked by
high drama, with the judge overruling several objections raised by
her counsel and former assembly speaker P H Pandian who said he had submitted a memo requesting postponement of the framing of charges.
An agitated Pandian kept insisting that his arguments be
heard, but the judge proceeded to read out his ruling. He overruled Pandian's contention that a Delhi court had
deferred framing charges against former prime minister P V
Narasimha Rao in the JMM bribery case, giving him time to move
the apex court.
The judge also ignored the counsel's contention that he would file
another petition seeking documents relating to the non-examination
of crucial witnesses, including the then home secretary, before framing the charges.
When Pandian and his colleague C P
Pattabiraman pleaded that Jayalalitha be given a
seat, the judge said she would be after he read out the charges. At one stage, Jayalalitha was seen
gesturing to Pattabiraman to restrain Pandian.
Earlier, dismissing the former CM's petition that she be discharged in the case, the judge said there was enough material to show that Mittal and Shanmugham were confident they would get government permission to build the
hotel in violation of building rules.
He pointed out that the files had moved very fast
from May 5, 1995 onwards. The state government had sought several
adjournments in related court cases after coming to know that it had
no authority to grant exemption to construct the hotel. An IAS
official, P C Cyriac, was transferred from the local administration
department for this, he added.
These and the circumstances which led to the amendment of the
District Municipalities Act in November 1994 with retrospective
effect indicated that there was indeed 'a meeting of minds' among the five
accused, he said.
Earlier, Jayalalitha and her close friend Sasikala
appeared before Additional Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate V Periakaruppiah at Egmore in response to his summons
on two complaints filed by the
income-tax department for prosecuting Sasi Enterprises, in which
they were partners. The company had not filed the returns for 1991-92 and
1992-93.
Jayalalitha and Sasikala were given copies of the complaints, after which the magistrate adjourned further hearing to October 23. Another case -- this one against Jayalalitha for not filing her tax returns for 1993-94 -- was also adjourned to the same date.
The magistrate also reserved orders for September 25 on Jayalalitha's petition under section 205 of the Criminal Procedure Code seeking to dispense with her appearance in the case.
She pleaded that her counsel be permitted to represent her to enable her to take care of party affairs during the proceedings. It was also difficult for her to be present in the court often because of her 'Z' category security cover, she said.
UNI
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