Madras High Court impleads its Registrar General as respondent in suo motu revision case against DMK minister K Ponmudi

The Madras High Court has impleaded its Registrar General (RG) as one of the respondent parties in the suo motu revision petition against the acquittal of Tamil Nadu minister for higher education, K Ponmudi and his family members in a disproportionate assets case..In an order passed on December 5, Justice G Jayachandran allowed the applications filed by Ponmudi and his wife P Visalatchi to implead the RG as a party..Justice Jayachandran passed the order after Senior Counsel NR Elango, who appeared for Ponmudi, told the Court making the RG a party to the matter was necessary to know the circumstances under which an administrative order was passed by the then Chief Justice of the Madras High Court to transfer the trial in Ponmudi’s case from one district to another that led to the minister’s eventual acquittal in the case.Such transfer order was what had prompted Justice N Anand Venkatesh to initiate the suo motu revision proceedings in the case..Justice Jayachandran also sought the RG’s response by December 12 to two more applications filed by Ponmudi. The first application has sought copies of the entire administrative proceedings that led to the transfer of the trial in the disproportionate assets case from Villupuram district to Vellore while the second was filed seeking a copy of the response submitted before the registry by the principal district judge of Vellore, N Vasanthaleela, who had acquitted him in the case..The High Court directed its registry to furnish to Ponmudi's counsel, a copy of Vasanthaleela's response upon payment of necessary charges, so that the minister can defend himself effectively in the suo motu revision proceeding.."The Suo Motu Revision taken by this Court and the order dated 10.08.2023 consists of two parts. The first part regarding the decision to transfer the case from one Sessions Division to another Sessions Division and the second part is the manner in which the case came to an end, by an order of acquittal rendered by the later Court. The response of the learned Judicial Officer is in respect of the observations made by the Court in the second part of the order dated 10.08.2023, undoubtedly, this should be made known to the respondents 2 and 3, so that effective submissions of defence can be put-forth by them. Though they are not the author of the order of acquittal, but the order speaks about them. Hence, the present Criminal Miscellaneous Petition is allowed. The Registry is directed to furnish the copy of the response filed by the learned Judicial Officer on payment of necessary charges," the High Court said..On August 10 this year, Justice Venkatesh, who was then the portfolio judge for special courts dealing with cases of MPs and MLAs, had decided to take suo motu revision against the order passed by judge Vasanthaleela who had acquitted Ponmudi in a disproportionate wealth case in June, just two days before her retirement. Justice Venkatesh had said at the time that there was something "seriously amiss" in transfer order passed on the administrative side of the Madras High Court transferring the trial to Vasanthaleela..Vasanthaleela then approached the Supreme Court to get the adverse remarks made by Justice Venkatesh against her expunged from his order. The Supreme Court then permitted her to submit her response before the RG..The case against Ponmudi and his wife was registered by the DVAC in 2002 when the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) came to power in the State. The DVAC claimed that the accused persons had amassed illegal assets when Ponmudi was a minister in the DMK government between 1996 and 2001.While the trial was being presided over by court in Villupuram, it was suddenly transferred to the Vellore principal district judge on June 7 last year. The Vellore judge then acquitted the minister and his wife saying that the prosecution had failed to furnish sufficient and legally acceptable evidence against the accused.Incidentally, the administrative note transferring the case had been issued on a totally unrelated request sent months ago by the principal district judge of Villupuram seeking permission to conduct hearing in the case on some non-working days..Once the matter was transferred, a case that had been pending for years, was decided in the accused's favour with much alacrity, just two days before Vasanthaleela retired, Justice had Venkatesh noted..Subsequently, Justice Venkatesh was transferred to the Madurai bench in what the registry said was a routine procedure and Justice Jayachandran took over the hearing of the suo motu revision cases initiated by Justice Venkatesh..[Read Order]