Supreme Court seeks response from Tamil Nadu on PIL to shift trials against State Ministers out of State

The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Tamil Nadu (TN) government and the State's Director General of Police (DGP) on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition praying that trials against incumbent State Ministers be transferred from TN to other States [Karuppiah Gandhi vs State of Tamil Nadu and ors].A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government and the DGP.The petition filed by Chennai-based advocate Karrupiah Gandhi said that the current State prosecution does not inspire confidence when it comes to ensuring free and fair trials."The petitioner has compelling reasons to believe that several cases from the past against various Ministers of the current State Government of Tamil Nadu have resulted in either closure reports or acquittal, against which the State Government has never filed appeals ... [it] raises serious suspicion and undermines the public's faith and confidence in the judicial process," the petition submitted.Therefore, the petitioner also prayed that cases being probed by the Tamil Nadu Police be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).The petitioner said that politics of the State influences probes against ministers of different political parties resulting in culprits going scot-free."The State of Tamil Nadu for more than 5 decades, either of the political party namely AIADMK or DMK is voted to power. Upon assuming power, the incoming administration typically accuses the predecessors and initiates cases against them ... the problem lies in the potentially unfair prosecution. Cases and allegations against rival parties are often expedited and pursued aggressively, causing undue harassment rather than ensuring a fair, impartial trial or investigation," the petitioner contended.More than half of the State Cabinet faces criminal charges, it was pointed out.Hence, the cases must be taken up and heard expeditiously, with status reports submitted on action being taken in this regard.Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu with advocates Ravi Prakash, Samir Malik, and Astu Khandelwal represented the petitioner..Justice N Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court had recently initiated a batch of suo motu revision petitions against the discharge or acquittal of six sitting as well as former Tamil Nadu ministers in cases of disproportionate assets and others.He has later transferred to the Madurai bench of the High Court.