T.N. Minister Ponmudy’s wife moves Supreme Court challenging Madras High Court’s suo motu revision against couple’s acquittal

Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy and his wife have filed a SLP in SC against Madras HC's Aug 10 order taking up suo motu revision of their June 28 acquittal in 2002 disproportionate assets case. HC refused to grant long adjournment & directed Registry to list revision on Oct 19. Justice Venkatesh had initiated suo motu proceedings & refused to recuse himself from hearing the case. Elango said order of Justice Venkatesh had lost relevance due to change of MP/MLA portfolio & SC SLP only challenges Aug 10 order.

Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy and his wife, P. Visalatchi, on Monday, October 9 informed the Madras High Court of having approached the Supreme Court, challenging an order passed by the High Court on August 10, 2023, taking up a suo motu revision against their June 28, 2023 acquittal in a 2002 disproportionate assets case.

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Appearing before Justice G. Jayachandran, Senior Counsel N.R. Elango, representing the Minister and his wife, said that a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the High Court order had already been filed and that it was expected to be listed for hearing before the Supreme Court any time next week.

Therefore, the Senior Counsel requested the judge to adjourn the hearing on the suo motu revision petition to sometime in November. However, the judge refused to grant a long adjournment stating that the litigant may not pursue the SLP at all, if the revision petition gets adjourned to next month. He directed the High Court Registry to list the revision again on October 19, for the counsel to apprise the court of the progress made in the SLP filed before the Supreme Court.

It was Justice N. Anand Venkatesh who had initiated the suo motu proceedings and ordered notices to the Minister, his wife and another co-accused. Giving reasons for having decided to take up the suo motu revision of the acquittal order passed by the Vellore Principal Sessions Court, the judge had written that the facts of the case and how the trial was transferred from Villupuram to Vellore revealed “a shocking and calculated attempt to manipulate and subvert the criminal justice system.”

After the judge ordered notices on the revision petition, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) as well as the Minister requested Justice Venkatesh to recuse himself from hearing the case further. However, passing another detailed order on September 14, the judge refused to recuse himself from hearing the matter.

Mr. Elango on Monday said, the order of Justice Venkatesh refusing to recuse himself, had lost relevance due to a change of MP/MLA portfolio, which had now been allotted to Justice Jayachandran. Therefore, his clients had chosen to challenge before the Supreme Court only the August 10 order taking suo motu cognisance of the acquittal, he added.