Supreme Court: In a public interest litigation (‘PIL’) filed by an advocate in Madras, for issuing notices to the State of Tamil Nadu and Director General of Police (DGP) on allegations of biased investigations against several ministers of the ruling party and former ministers, the division bench of Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta, JJ. issued notice to the State and DGP without prejudice to their right to raise objections regarding maintainability of this PIL. Further, it granted the State three weeks’ time to file their counter affidavit along with the objection to determine maintainability and granted one weeks’ time to the petitioner to file rejoinder affidavit thereafter.
The PIL paints a grim picture illustrating instances where cases against the political members, which have been lingering for years, have moved with great alacrity merely on the change of Government. It prayed for the direction to the State Government to provide details of cases which are disposed/pending adjudication against such ministers.
The PIL sought transfer of cases pending against ministers of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) before Courts of the State of Tamil Nadu to Courts of any other State.
The PIL also sought transfer of cases pending before investigating agencies to any other independent agencies or Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Numerous instances were also highlighted in the PIL alleging that even the orders passed by the Courts including the High Court are not being followed by these politically influential persons.
The Court issue notices the State and DGP without prejudice to their right to raise objections regarding maintainability of this PIL.
[Karuppiah Gandhi v State of Tamil Nadu, 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1388, Order dated 20-10-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Petitioner(s): Senior Advocate D.S Naidu, Advocate —On-Record Samir Malik, Advocate Ravi Prakash, Advocate Samir Malik, Advocate Astu Khandelwal
For Respondent(s) Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, Senior Advocate N.R. Elango, Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari, Advocate-On-Record D. Kumanan, Advocate Deepa S., Advocate Sheikh F. Kalia, Advocate Devyani Gupta, Advocate Tanvi Anand, Advocate Akanksha Mehta, Advocate Veshal Tyagi
