The Hindu : 'IPC forbade Jayalalithaa from buying Govt. land'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 27, 2002

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'IPC forbade Jayalalithaa from buying Govt. land'

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI SEPT. 26. The underlining principle under Section 169 of the Indian Penal Code was that as a public servant, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, was forbidden from purchasing Government property and this aspect was not properly considered by the trial court and the High Court, the appellant's counsel said in the Supreme Court today.

T.R. Andhyarujina, counsel for the appellant, Bharathi, made the submission before a Bench, comprising Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Justice P. Venkatarama Reddi, which reserved orders in the TANSI appeals.

In his reply to the arguments of K.K. Venugopal, senior counsel for Ms. Jayalalithaa, Mr. Andhyarujina reiterated his charge that there was a conspiracy in the purchase of TANSI property by Ms. Jayalalithaa. And, by purchasing the TANSI properties by "abusing" her position, she had violated the `Code of Conduct' for Ministers.

The Chief Minister, having fiduciary relationship as a trustee, had an obligation to protect the properties of the Government and she could not defy the fiduciary responsibility by contending that the code would not apply to her, he said.

Referring to the offer made by Sasikala, managing partner of Jaya Publications, to surrender the properties, counsel pointed out that there was a conscious attempt to cloak the role played by Ms. Jayalalithaa, who had even disowned her signature before the trial court.

Explaining the role played by each of the accused — Ms. Sasikala, R. Karpoorasundarapandian, T.R. Srinivasan and S. Nagarajan — counsel said that justice must be done in the case as the trial court and the High Court had given different verdicts.

The Janata Party president, Subramanian Swamy, another appellant, contended that by purchasing the property, public interest had suffered and Ms. Jayalalithaa attracted the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

He said there was a specific order in 1985, which said that parties who purchased the property must ensure industrialisation of the units, but the land was sold to Jaya Publications knowing fully well that it could not run an industry.

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