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`Jayalalithaa wanted to surrender TANSI property even earlier'

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI SEPT. 19. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, "would have thrown out or surrendered the TANSI property'' even earlier, senior counsel, K.K. Venugopal, said today in the Supreme Court hearing the TANSI appeals.

Continuing his arguments, Mr. Venugopal told the Bench comprising Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Justice P. Venkatarama Reddi that "she wanted to surrender the property even as charity but she could not do it because the matter was pending in the courts, as it was the reason for much of the unpleasant things''. However, even tomorrow, she was willing to surrender the property.

On legal submissions, Mr. Venugopal maintained that TANSI was not an extended arm of the government as contended on behalf of the appellants. It might be an instrumentality of the State within the meaning of the Article 12 of the Constitution. Further a corporation could never become a government, he said.

Referring to the contention that by purchasing the property, Ms. Jayalalithaa had violated the `Code of Conduct', viz. that no Minister should purchase government property, Mr. Venugopal asserted that the Code had no statutory sanction and hence was not enforceable.

To a question from the Bench whether corporate veil could be pierced to go into the character of the company, Mr. Venugopal said it could be done only in the case of fraud or tax evasion by the company or if the company was used to commit frauds.

Here the case was only against Ms. Jayalalithaa and not against the company and hence there was no need for lifting the veil. He will continue his arguments next week.

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