Politicians and common man equal before courts: Madras High Court

While restoring disproportionate assets cases against two sitting Tamil Nadu ministers on Wednesday, the Madras High Court noticed some glaring irregularities committed by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), which it said were probably intentional..After noting illegalities in the cases, Justice N Anand Venkatesh felt that it was a matter of principle to prevent the grossest abuse of the judicial process."If the rule of law is to mean anything, it must mean that politicians and the common man of this State will be equal before the Courts and that the butcher, the baker and the candlelight maker will be treated just the same as a Revenue, Housing or Finance Minister of this State."On the conduct of the DVAC - the body responsible for probing corruption cases of legislators - in these cases, it said,"It cannot but be observed that the eagerness of the DVAC to resort to further investigation to find material to support the discharge petitions of the accused raises a serious doubt in the mind of this Court as to whether the entire investigation had been compromised and derailed with the intent of getting the accused off the hook...In this case, the DVAC contested tooth and nail till there was a change of power in the State in 2021. The accused were aware that till such time, they could not use the police to ferret defense material in their favor.".The High Court further said that the special court had either unwittingly, or perhaps willingly, fallen into error in discharging the accused..In a significant judgment, the Court set aside two special court orders which had discharged Tamil Nadu Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management KKSSR Ramachandran and Human Resource Management Minister Thangam Thennarasu in corruption cases..Justice Venkatesh said that on going through the case papers in both cases, the High Court had noticed an identical modus operandi. In both cases, the accused had been booked while they were in the opposition and final reports implicating them had been filed by the prosecuting agency. However, once the government in the State changed and the party that the accused were affiliated with came to power, the DVAC conducted a further investigation and filed a closure report, paving the way for the discharge of the accused.The two Ministers were discharged from disproportionate asset cases against them in July 2023 and December 2022 respectively..The DVAC had initially registered a case against Ramachandran, his wife and a friend of the Minister under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) in December 20, 2011. The agency claimed that they were in possession of ₹44.59 lakh worth of assets disproportionate to their known sources of income during the period between April 1, 2006, and March 31, 2010.In July last year, Sessions Judge V Thilaham accepted a closure report filed by the DVAC and accepted the agency's sudden change of heart, concluding that the Minister’s family had excess savings of ₹1.49 lakh and not disproportionate assets worth ₹44.59 lakh..The DVAC had registered the case against Thennarasu and his wife T Manimegalai on February 14, 2012. A charge sheet was filed claiming that the couple possessed ₹74.58 lakh disproportionate to their known sources of income between May 15, 2006, and March 31, 2010.On December 12, 2022, Principal Sessions Judge M Christopher accepted the closure report filed by the DVAC and discharged Thennarasu and his wife from the case..In his order, Justice Venkatesh pointed out that in both cases, the DVAC had volunteered to conduct a further investigation. The DVAC had even filed two “identically worded closure reports” in both cases stating that there was not adequate material on record and no case was made out against the accused. Yet, the special court had failed to take notice, the High Court said.“What is evident from the above is a clearly orchestrated plan. Once the two Ministers were back to power, the DVAC officials decided or were told by their higher ups to find ways and means to ensure that the prosecutions were torpedoed. The perfect plan was thus drawn up. When the accused persons filed an ostensible written argument, the DVAC, with all sincerity, received them with open arms and then hunted for material to back up the defence of the accused, culminating with the “final closure report”. What is striking is that the so-called written argument, the intimation for further investigation and the final closure report were filed on the same day in both cases as is evident from the above. Unfortunately, the very same Special Court did not notice this and fell into or was willing to fall into an error in discharging the accused,” the High Court said..The High Court has now directed both Ramachandran and Thennarasu to appear before the special court on September 9.It has also directed the special court to frame charges against both the ministers and conduct a trial in both cases..Advocate General PS Raman appeared for the DVAC.Senior Advocate S Muralidhar and Advocate S Agilesh Kumar appeared for KKSSR Ramachandran.Senior Advocate NR Elango and Advocate AS Aswin Prasanna appeared for Aadhilakshmi P Visalatchi, Ramachandran’s wife.Senior Advocate A Ramesh and Advocate R Ashwin appeared for Thangam Thennarasu..[Read orders]