The Madras High Court's decision to reevaluate the exoneration of state ministers in corruption cases is something that Tamil Nadu's ruling party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), intends to challenge in the Supreme Court.
Asserting that the High Court judge is "picking and choosing" cases involving DMK leaders, the party's organizing secretary, RS Bharati, said that the party would be appealing to the Supreme Court.
KKSSR Ramachandran, Thangam Thennarasu, and K Ponmudy were recently dismissed from their positions as DMK ministers in separate cases involving disproportionate assets, and the Madras High Court's single bench of Justice Anand Venkatesh recently took up suo motu revision of those rulings.
Thennarasu was released from custody by the district courts in December 2022, while Ponmudy and Ramachandran were declared innocent in June and July of this year, respectively.
"We don't claim that the judge lacks the authority to consider suo moto revision. However, that discretion must not be exercised with malicious purposes, according to the top DMK official.
The former chief minister and leader of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Edappadi Palaniswami, was the subject of a complaint that the same judge, Justice Anand Venkatesh, dismissed over alleged irregularities in the awarding of the highway work tender.
In addition, the DMK leader said that when Justice Anand Venkatesh rejected his appeal against Palaniswami, he indicated that political parties were using the court as a "playground to settle scores."
Additionally, he claimed that even though opposition figures like O Panneerselvam and Natham Viswanathan were recently cleared of all charges in corruption cases by lower courts, they still hold seats in the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).
Cases involving MPs and MLAs are handled by Justice Anand Venkatesh. September 7 has been set aside for the hearing of the cases brought against the ministers.
