Madras HC declines to pass order on plea against use of Jayalalithaa photo

The Madras High Court on Monday asked the Tamil Nadu government to clear its stand on a plea to ban the use of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s photograph in government advertisements because she had been convicted in a corruption case.

While issuing notice to the government for its stand on the plea by ‘Traffic’ Ramaswami, a noted public interest litigant, a bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar, however, refused to pass any interim order on the petition and adjourned the hearing on it for five weeks.

Seeking a direction to the state government not to use Jayalalithaa’s photograph, the petitioner submitted that the Supreme Court had in its judgement stated that she was ‘convicted’ in the disproportionate assets case.

The government is openly giving advertisements with her photographs spending from public exchequer, he claimed.

It gives a wrong signal as the successive governments may also follow the same in future by spending public fund, he added.

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On February 14, the Supreme Court had restored in toto the judgement and findings of the trial court in Bengaluru which held all the accused, including Jayalalithaa, guilty in the corruption case.

The apex court, however, had abated the proceedings against Jayalalithaa in view of her death on December 5 last year.

Jayalalithaa, her close aide and AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala and two others were accused of amassing disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 66.65 crore during her first term as the chief minister from 1991 to 1996. 

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