HC orders a new trial in the 2012 corruption case and rejects DMK Mantri’s acquittal

CHENNAI: On Monday, Madras High Court overturned the special court’s decision, citing it as “tainted by procedural impropriety,” less than a year after DMK minister I Periyasamy was found not guilty in a case spanning twelve years that included allegedly unlawful land allocation. The court was directed by Justice N Venkatesh to resume the trial and arrange “day to day” sessions with the goal of concluding the case by July 31 at the latest.

Using suo motu revision processes, the judge said that the decision rendered by the special Chennai court on March 27, 2023, in instances involving MLAs and MPs, “suffers from manifest perversity and gross illegality”.

He said that the “legitimacy of the administration of criminal justice will be eroded and public confidence shaken if MLAs and ministers facing corruption cases can short-circuit criminal trials by adopting the modus operandi that has been carried out in this case” .
If the accused utilize “dilatory tactics” to postpone their trial, Justice Venkatesh ordered the special court to put all of the accused—including the minister—in jail. “On March 28, all defendants must appear before the special court. The ruling says, “Upon such appearance, all shall furnish a bond of Rs 1 lakh each with two sureties.” “A compliance report (should) be sent thereafter to the registrar general of high court.”

The public shouldn’t be made to feel that “a trial against a politician in this state is nothing but a mockery of dispensing criminal justice,” according to Justice Venkatesh. He continued: “A constitutional court is duty-bound, under the Constitution, to ensure that such things do not come to pass.”
“It made clear that HC hasn’t examined or commented upon merits of case, which shall be decided by special court on merits, without being influenced by the observations made herein above.”

In 2012, during the tenure of the AIADMK government, Periyasamy was charged with corruption by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption. The accusation concerns the unauthorized 2008 assignment of a Tamil Nadu Housing Board plot to a former chief minister M Karunanidhi’s personal bodyguard.
The High Court criticized the trial court’s position that the governor should be the one to authorize the prosecution of the principal accused, a former minister, and that the assembly speaker’s approval was insufficient. According to Justice Venkatesh, Periyasamy was not a minister at the time the case was brought.