DVAC asks Madras High Court judge to recuse from hearing suo motu revision of State Minister K Ponmudi acquittal

Tamil Nadu’s Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) and State Minister for Higher Education K Ponmudi on Thursday asked the Madras High Court's Justice N Anand Venkatesh to recuse from hearing the revision petition against the acquittal of Ponmudi and his family members in a disproportionate assets case..Justice Venkatesh had taken up the revision proceedings suo motu last month. While doing so, he had questioned the manner in which the trial against Ponmudi and his co-accused was transferred from one district court to another based on the administrative approval granted by three High Court judges, including then Chief Justice (CJ) of the High Court..Appearing for the DVAC, Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra said that Justice Venkatesh should not have passed such order without issuing notice to the High Court on the administrative side, and without first hearing all parties.Luthra argued that in his opinion, the judge did not have any suo motu revisional jurisdiction..Luthra further submitted that it appeared that the judge had already pre-determined that something wrong had been done in acquitting Ponmudi and his co-accused. “Without such notice (to the High Court), in effect your lordship’s judgement seems like the issue has been pre-decided and it is therefore, a final order. The suo motu jurisdiction was exercised on material that the parties had no access to. The Court did that without giving an opportunity to the other parties. Can the Court do that?”He went on to say that while the issue of the Court’s suo motu revisional jurisdiction needed to be decided, Justice Venkatesh must, in the interest of the principles of judicial propriety, ask for the matter to be placed before the Chief Justice, who in turn should place it for hearing before an appropriate bench.The senior lawyer also pointed out that the suo motu revision had been taken up by the High Court even before the expiry of the period within which the DVAC could file an appeal challenging the acquittal. However, when Justice Venkatesh interjected to ask if the State had decided to file an appeal challenging Ponmudi’s acquittal, Luthra said that the DVAC and State authorities were still “processing and examining it.”.Senior Advocate NR Elango, who appeared for Ponmudi, argued that it will be “appropriate for some other judge to hear” the suo motu revision petition since Justice Venkatesh had already made certain strong observations in the order passed by him on August 10..Justice Venkatesh then said that he will examine whether he can hear the matter himself, or if it needs to go before another bench. The Court is expected to pass appropriate orders on September 14..On August 10 this year, Justice Venkatesh, who is also the portfolio minister for special courts dealing with cases of MPs and MLAs, had decided to take suo motu revision of the order passed by judge N Vasanthaleela, who had acquitted Ponmudi in a disproportionate wealth case in June this year. 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..In another case concerning former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Paneerselvam (OPS) and others, Justice Venkatesh had observed that the DVAC, which prosecutes cases of corruption by legislators, drops such cases when a new party comes into power. The judge had initiated suo motu revision proceedings against the discharge of OPS and his relatives in a disproportionate assets case in 2012.Justice Venkatesh has also taken up revision of the discharge of Ministers KSSR Ramachandran and Thangam Thennarasu..DVAC acts like puppets in Muppets show: Madras High Court issues notice to OPS against discharge in DA case