Case on ex-Councillor’s assets goes to CJ

Shocked at such aghast submission of the TNSEC that it neither has the power nor the time to cross check such aspects, a single judge of the Madras High Court has referred the issue to the Chief Justice to be posted before a division bench for setting right the anomaly. Justice N Kirubakaran while dealing with a plea that public were pushed to part with thousands as property tax whereas a councillor can get away with paying a meagre Rs 55 as property tax, had directed the TNSEC to submit the statements of declaration of assets made by all elected councillors of the Corporation of Chennai from 2006 to 2016. 

On perusing the submission made by TNSEC on Friday that as per the declaration the said councillor had declared no assets, the judge said “The declaration made by ex-councillor V Annamalai in 2016 has shocked the conscience of this court. Annamalai has stated that that he did not have any property on his own, whereas the documents produced by the petitioner shows that he has properties. It only goes to show that the declaration is farce and there is no mechanism with TNSEC to verify the claims.” 

Also, the judge on recording TNSEC’s submission that cross checking of such aspects happens only when there is a complaint, said “The election commission on its own should verify whether the information furnished by the candidates is true or not. It need not wait for objections from the rivals or the opposition party. It’s possible there will be a syndicate among candidates. Therefore, there should be mechanism in place to verify the declaration.” 

However, Justice Kirubakaran on noting that though the plea pertained just to ex-councillor Annamalai, this court expanded the scope in respect of all councillors elected from 2006 as public interest is involved in it, said “Therefore, the matter is referred to the Chief Justice to be heard by a division bench.” The judge also directed the Commissioner of Police to provide protection to the petitioner as his fight is with a politician. He also suo motu impleaded the DGP in the case.

Taking strong exception to just a single case being registered this year in respect of sex selection by scan centres, the Madras High Court has directed the state government to furnish the number of raids conducted by it in the scan centres across the state and the number of persons arrested so far.

Justice N Kirubakaran who had directed the appearance of the Chairman, Tamil Nadu Medical Council to find out about its dilution of powers in suspending erring medical practitioners, sought for more details about the raids while reserving its order on a plea filed by Dr K Ramachandran challenging his suspension in one such sex selection case. The judge also issued notice to the assistant solicitor general to file a reply about the Repealing and Amending Act of 2016, which had removed the provision of suspension during the pendency of the criminal case. The judge sought to know why the power of the law was diluted in a single amendment to protect erring doctors. The matter relates to the suspension of Dr K Ramachandran whose registration was suspended till the completion of criminal case which is pending against him before the District Munsif –Cum- Judicial Magistrate Court at Neyveli. The suspension was made on the raids conducted by the health department official who found that the doctor was involved in acts in violation of Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act 1994.