The Madras High Court on Monday (February 3, 2025) decided to commence on April 7, 2025, the final hearing on a suo motu revision petition taken up by it in August 2023 against the acquittal of Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy, his wife P. Visalatchi, and another individual in a disproportionate assets case registered against them in 2002.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh fixed the date of the final hearing after ascertaining the convenience of Advocate General P.S. Raman, representing the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), as well as the senior counsel to be engaged by the Minister and two others. He said, the hearing would take place between April 7 and 17.
This was the first of the six suo motu revision petitions that Justice Venkatesh had taken up in 2023 against the discharge/acquittal of Mr. Ponmudy and Ministers I. Periyasamy, K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, Thangam Thennarasu, former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, and former AIADMK Minister B. Valarmathi in different cases.
‘Attempt to manipulate justice system’
The judge had taken up the suo motu revision against Mr. Ponmudy after observing that the events leading to the acquittal order passed by the Vellore principal district and sessions court on June 28, 2023, revealed “a shocking and calculated attempt to manipulate and subvert the criminal justice system.”
The charge levelled by the DVAC against the Minister was that he had amassed wealth during his tenure as Transport Minister between 1996 and 2001. The prosecuting agency had booked not only the Minister and his wife but also his mother-in-law and two friends as the co-accused in the case.
In 2004, a Chief Judicial Magistrate in Villupuram discharged all the accused from the case, and the High Court too confirmed the discharge order in 2006. However, following an appeal by the State, the Supreme Court reversed the discharge orders and ordered the conduct of the trial.
The Minister’s mother-in-law and one of the two friends died before the framing of charges in 2015 and hence, the trial court proceeded only against the three surviving accused. The trial was conducted before the principal district court, which had been designated as a special court for Prevention of Corruption Act cases.
On April 26, 2022, the Principal District Judge wrote a letter to the High Court, requesting permission for conducting special sittings on four holidays in May 2022 to conduct the trial since the Supreme Court had insisted upon expeditious disposal.
The request was considered and rejected by the High Court on its administrative side only on June 7, 2022, long after the expiry of the dates when the district judge had planned to conduct the proceedings.
“The official memorandum not only communicates the refusal of permission but also shockingly injuncts the Principal District Judge, Villupuram, from exercising her judicial powers over the case by directing that the case should not be taken up until further orders,” Justice Venkatesh wrote in his interim order in August 2023.
He also highlighted that on July 6 and July 7, 2022, two High Court judges, holding the portfolio of Villupuram district, had written to the then Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari recommending the transfer of the trial from Villupuram to Vellore, and the Chief Justice approved the transfer on July 8, 2022.
Pointing out neither the Chief Justice nor the portfolio judges of the High Court have any authority to pass orders on the administrative side for transferring a case from one district to another, Justice Venkatesh said such transfer was “ex-facie illegal and non est in law.”
He went on to state: “By the first week of June 2023, the celestial stars of the accused appeared to be lining up perfectly, with the blessings of judicial personages, including the Principal District Judge, Vellore, who was set to demit office on June 30, 2023.”
A defence witnesses was quickly examined on June 6, 2023, and the written submisssions on behalf of the accused were submitted on June 23, 2023.
“Within four days thereafter, the Vellore Principal District Judge marshalled the evidence of 172 prosecution witnesses and 381 documents and managed (or rather stage-managed) to deliver a 226-page testament/judgment acquitting all the accused on June 28, 2023. This unique feat of industry on the part of the Principal District Judge, Vellore, can find few parallels, and it may well be said is a feat that even judicial mortals in constitutional courts can only dream of,” Justice Venkatesh wrote.
Published – February 03, 2025 04:52 pm IST