PIL against Sasikala not listed for hearing in Supreme Court

The PIL moved in the Supreme Court seeking to restrain AIADMK leader V K Sasikala from being sworn in as Tamil Nadu chief minister could not be listed for hearing on Tuesday as certain “defects” in it need to be cured.

Sources said the petitioner has now engaged a lawyer and efforts were on to cure the defects cited by the court registry.

The petition filed by Chennai-resident Senthil Kumar, General Secretary of NGO Satta Panchayat Iyakkam, is not there in the mentioning list for Wednesday and there is all likelihood that his advocate would make a mention of it before an appropriate bench for urgent hearing on Wednesday.

The petition was hurriedly filed on Monday seeking a stay on swearing-in of Sasikala as Tamil Nadu chief minister as there was speculation that she would be taking the oath in near future.

The petitioner has sought a restrain on her swearing-in after a bench had on Monday said that it would pronounce within a week the judgement in a 19-year-old disproportionate assets case in which she and late CM J Jayalalithaa were accused.

Kumar sought a stay on Sasikala’s swearing-in contending that if she was convicted and forced to resign, there could be a “possibility of riots erupting all over Tamil Nadu”.

He said the law and order situation may worsen in such an eventuality as the state was already facing a “desperate situation” due to cyclone, demonetisation and death of Jayalalithaa.

The petitioner claimed in case the appeal against her acquittal results in conviction, the AIADMK workers may once again protest and disturb the normal life in Tamil Nadu.

He said he filed the plea in the interest of the people of Tamil Nadu and to maintain peace in the state.

After Jayalalithaa passed away on December 5, 2016, Sasikala, who was her shadow for nearly three decades, was made General Secretary of AIADMK on December 29 and elected as the Leader of the Legislature Party on February 5.