DMK organisation secretary R.S. Bharathi on Thursday, August 24, 2023 said Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court had followed a ‘pick and choose’ policy in taking up suo moturevision of the acquittal of Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy and discharge of Revenue Minister K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran and Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu from corruption cases registered against them during the AIADMK regime.
He said the DMK would approach the Supreme Court against Justice Venkatesh’s decision.
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“Of course, the court and the judge are vested with discretionary powers to suo motu take up cases. But the discretion should not be shaped by mala fide intentions,” Mr. Bharathi said, addressing the media at Chennai.
According to Mr. Bharathi, who had filed various cases on behalf of the DMK, its Ministers had been acquitted or discharged on grounds that were applied by courts to acquit or discharge former Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and former Ministers Natham R. Viswanathan and B. Valarmathi. “But the judge seemed to have followed a policy of pick and choose,” he alleged.
The DMK leader also recalled Justice Venkatesh’s observation that it was a “waste of time” and the order of the court would be “consigned to nothing”, while hearing a case seeking a CBI inquiry against former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami for alleged irregularities and corruption in national highways projects to the tune of ₹3,600 crore.
Mr. Bharathi said Mr. Thennarasu was accused of amassing wealth to the tune of ₹74 lakh, and Mr. Ramachandran, ₹44 lakh. “You can buy only 600 square feet in Nanganallur (in Chennai) for ₹74 lakh and 400 square feet for ₹44 lakh. But the High Court will hear them (the Ministers) by using its golden hours,” he said.
As far as the case against Mr. Ponmudy was concerned, he said that before the Minister’s acquittal, the case was fought in the courts for many years, and shifted to Vellore on the direction of the Madras High Court.
Reiterating that the DMK had full faith in the courts and respect for judges, Mr. Bharathi said the party had won many cases. “When the AIADMK government, headed by Mr. Palaniswami, denied a space for the burial of our leader Karunanidhi’s mortal remains near Annadurai’s mausoleum, we went to the court and won the case,” he said.
