New Delhi, Sep 6 The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the operation of the Madras High Court order restoring disproportionate assets cases against Tamil Nadu Ministers K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran and Thangam Thennarasu and their family members.
Issuing notice on their special leave petitions, a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and P.K. Mishra passed an interim order staying the impugned high court decision.
The matter will be heard after four weeks.
In an order passed on August 7, the Madras High Court set aside the discharge of Ministers Ramachandran and Thennarasu from two different disproportionate assets cases booked against them and their family members in 2011 and 2012.
A bench of Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras HC overturned the order passed by a special court discharging Ramachandran, his wife R. Adhilakshmi and friend K.S.P. Shanmughamurthy and restored the disproportionate cases to the special court. The high court ordered that the trial court should frame charges and proceed in accordance with the law.
Justice Venkatesh clarified that in view of the orders passed in the suo motu proceedings, the discharge petitions that the accused had filed before the trial court would stand dismissed.
Further, the Madras HC directed all three accused to appear before the special court on September 9 and furnish a bond. It added that the trial must be conducted without being influenced by any of the observations made in the suo motu proceedings.
The high court also set aside orders passed by a special court handling MP/MLA cases in December last year against Minister Thangam Thennarasu and his wife T. Manimegalai and restored the disproportionate assets case to the file of the trial court.
Apart from directing the special court to conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis, the Madras HC said that prima facie materials were available for framing charges and directed the special court to proceed with the framing of charges.
In his judgment, Justice Anand Venkatesh said: "The accused are directed to appear before the special court on September 11, 2024. On such appearance, the special court shall obtain a bond under Section 88 of Code of Criminal Procedure with or without sureties as the special court may deem fit and necessary."
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