New Delhi:
Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and her confidante, Sasikala Natarajan, will continue to face criminal proceedings for alleged corruption, the Supreme Court said today.
Ms Jayalalithaa has appeared in a court in Bangalore twice last year to answer several hundred questions put to her, along with Ms Sasikala.
It was Ms Sasikala who had asked the Supreme Court to suspend the trial because she has not been given documents that she requested from the trial court, according to her lawyers. The Supreme Court refused to intervene.
Sasikala has also filed an application challenging the jurisdiction of the Bengaluru court to conduct the trial.The petition says the judge B.M. Mallikarjuniah was not appointed by a notification as required under Section 3 of the Prevention Of Corruption Act. Only Special Judges are competent to try such corruption cases. The present judge, the petitioner claims, was appointed by a routine administrative order.
Ms Jayalalithaa has been accused of misusing her earlier term in office from 1991 to 1996 to benefit herself and friends like Ms Sasikala.
A few months ago, the Chief Minister asked Ms Sasikala to move out of her home, and expelled her from her party, the AIADMK, for allegedly interfering with postings of bureaucrats. However, the women reconciled recently. Rival party DMK has alleged that the estrangement was a ruse to distance the Chief Minister from the corruption case, and an attempt to make Ms Sasikala the scapegoat.
Ms Jayalalithaa has appeared in a court in Bangalore twice last year to answer several hundred questions put to her, along with Ms Sasikala.
It was Ms Sasikala who had asked the Supreme Court to suspend the trial because she has not been given documents that she requested from the trial court, according to her lawyers. The Supreme Court refused to intervene.
Sasikala has also filed an application challenging the jurisdiction of the Bengaluru court to conduct the trial.The petition says the judge B.M. Mallikarjuniah was not appointed by a notification as required under Section 3 of the Prevention Of Corruption Act. Only Special Judges are competent to try such corruption cases. The present judge, the petitioner claims, was appointed by a routine administrative order.
Ms Jayalalithaa has been accused of misusing her earlier term in office from 1991 to 1996 to benefit herself and friends like Ms Sasikala.
A few months ago, the Chief Minister asked Ms Sasikala to move out of her home, and expelled her from her party, the AIADMK, for allegedly interfering with postings of bureaucrats. However, the women reconciled recently. Rival party DMK has alleged that the estrangement was a ruse to distance the Chief Minister from the corruption case, and an attempt to make Ms Sasikala the scapegoat.
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