The Supreme Court Bench in Karnataka, India, is set for final hearing appeals in former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram's disproportionate assets case on February 2. The case was filed by the Kartanaka government and DMK general secretary K. Anbazaghan at the Kartanaka High Court.
Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Amitav Roy of Supreme Court Bench granted two weeks for both sides to submit a note indicating the relevant issues in the appeals, according to Asian Tribune. "We will start the hearing from February 2 and will hear the matter on February 3 and 4 as well," the Justices said.
Jayalalithaa Jayaram, a chief of AIADMK party and former chief minister, was jailed in 2014 for holding about 530 million rupees ($8.7 million) in unaccounted cash and property. Jayalalithaa was handed a four year sentence and 1 billion rupees fine.
Jayalalithaa was forced to resign as chief minister and spent 21 days in jail before released on bail citing her health problem, and spent eight months of exile in her Poes Garden home, Firstpost reported.
In May 2015, the Kartanaka High Court dismissed all the disproportionate assets charges against her. The state government claimed that the high court has erred in overruling preliminary objections.
However, a new judge, Justice Amitava Roy has taken the place at the Supreme Court Bench and decided to commence final hearing on various appeals filed by Karnataka government, including Jayalalithaa assets case.
In the last hearing on November 23, the high court asked the two parties to file issues they wanted to highlight in their respective arguments to prevent any delay and add focus to the hearings, The Hindu reported. The apex court had agreed earlier to conduct day-to-day hearing on the appeals filed against the Karnataka High Court verdict acquitting Jayalalithaa and three others in the case.
Karnataka government counsel and senior advocate Dushyant Dave suggested the Bench to start the appeal hearing from February 2, dismissing the requirement to delay the hearing in order to determine what issues should be highlighted.
Justice Ghose agreed that Jayalalithaa disproportionate assets would be the top case on the three days hearing in February. The Bench said that further hearings would follow as other cases are being listed during this month.
Jayalalithaa asserted in her response that there was no error in the Karnataka high court and asked for dismissal for the appeal. She said that only the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption in Tamil Nadu has the right to file an appeal of the case. Jayalalithaa asserted that Karnataka high court had no role in prosecuting the appeal.
