Court asks Jayalalithaa to appear on Oct. 10

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, SEPT. 26. With the examination of prosecution witnesses ending in the `coal import deal case', the Special Court-II today directed the former Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa, to appear before the court on October 10 for questioning under Sec. 313 of Cr.P.C.

The judge, Mr. S.S.P.Dharwesh, directed the former PWD Minister, Mr. S. Kannappan (A-2 in the case), to appear for Sec. 313 questioning on October 9, and the other eight accused including two former Chief Secretaries, Mr. T.V. Venkataraman and Mr. N. Haribhaskar, to appear for questioning on October 8.

In all, the CB CID which investigated the import deal in which the prosecution case is that the import had resulted in a Rs. 6.5-crore loss to the TNEB, 11 persons were cited as accused. One of them, V.R. Nedunchezhian, died during the trial. Originally, the special court framed charges in the case in June 1999 on which occasion, it discharged Ms. Jayalalithaa from the case. On appeal by the then Government, the Supreme Court directed re- hearing in June 2000 by including Ms. Jayalalithaa's name again. The trial began again in August 2000.

The examination of the prosecution witnesses ended today with Ms. Jayalalithaa's counsel cross-examining the investigating officer. The IO, Mr. M. Shoukat Ali, said his investigation did not reveal the former Chief Minister's interference or recommendation in finalising the tender in the tender process or in favour of any supplier for the coal import.

The entire case against her was with regard to a letter she wrote as Chief Minister to the Prime Minister and her signing the coal import approval order. Earlier it was signed by the entire TNEB Board, the then secretaries and Ministers for PWD and Finance. Except these two acts, she had not played any other role. There was no specific allegation of pecuniary advantage against her. Till she approved the tenders, she was not informed of anything with regard to the tender proceedings.

It was true that the supply of coal by M/s Coal India created many problems, such as shortage of supply, irregular supply and delay because of which the TNEB had to go for coal import. Such a decision was taken only in public interest.

``My investigation revealed that because of the coal import there was no power cut in Tamil Nadu,'' he said adding that the TNEB was an autonomous institution, only which paid money for the coal import and not the Government.''

The views expressed by the former PWD secretary, Mr. V. Sundaram, were his internal correspondence prior to the taking of the decisions. Finally, he agreed that the decisions taken were correct, the IO added.

The import was only to create a buffer stock and not a supply on regular basis. His investigation also revealed that Indian coal was inferior in quality to coal imported from Indonesia and Australia. Of the permitted 2 million tonnes of import only two lakh tonnes were imported.

Till the interim chargesheet was filed, his investigation had not revealed any specific allegations or unlawful activity on the part of Ms. Jayalalithaa in the case, the IO claimed.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Talks in DMK front under way, amid pressures
Next     : Tuticorin engineer develops software for remote
           controlling