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PIL against Centre's notification

A public interest litigation was filed Tuesday in Madras high court challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre's notification that transferred all corruption cases against former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha from three special judges appointed by the state.

The petition by K M Vijayan prayed for a declaration that the notification was illegal, unconstitutional and inconsistent with the provisions of section 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and in violation to Article 14 of the Constitution.

He contended that by a notification dated April 30, 1997, the state government appointed three special judges in consultation with the high court. Aggrieved by the decision of the division bench, appeals were filed in the apex court, which refused to stay the trial before the special judges.

The petitioner said the accused made several attempts to prolong and postpone the trial. Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition came to power at the Centre, its ally, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was pressuring the government to obstruct the cases - and as the party's support was crucial for the continuance of the Vajpayee government, it wielded a lot of power.

Having failed to stall the proceedings before the special judges, the accused had prevailed upon the Union government to exercise a non-existent jurisdiction, he alleged.

UNI

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