MADURAI: Madras High Court has ordered issuance of notice to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and four state ministers on a plea seeking their disqualification over a meeting that the ministers reportedly had with jailed AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala. A bench sought an explanation from the CM over the allegations that he had not questioned his cabinet colleagues over their meeting with Sasikala.
A bench consisting of Justices KK Sasidharan and GR Swaminathan ordered the issuance of notice after the PIL filed by Anazhagan, son of former AIADMK MLA late Thamaraikani, was brought to light. The petitioner submitted that the ministers meeting the accused in the prison was a grave “violation” of the oath taken by them as ministers and they should be disqualified. He contended that the CM should also be disqualified for not pulling them up.
Sasikala, who was convicted in a disproportionate assets case by the Supreme court on February 14, this year, is currently undergoing imprisonment in a Bengaluru jail. The four involved ministers had admitted that they had met her in prison on February 28, and discussed the functioning of the government, the petitioner alleged. The “admission” by their ministers that their government was being run on the advise of Sasikala showed that the chief minister and the four ministers violated the Constitution, he said.
