MLAs’ disqualification: Third judge to hear case from July 23

Justice M Sathyanarayanan appointed by the SC as third judge to hear the June 14 split verdict on consultation with both the parties in the open court on Wednesday agreed to take up the matter on the above said dates as he is poised to hear the illegal beach sand mining case on a continuous basis from July 9 onwards. Accordingly, the case is posted to be heard next at 10.30 am on July 23.

Earlier, Senior counsel P S Raman appearing for the 18 MLAs submitted that they are keen to start arguments early. He also submitted that for the sake of convenience since disqualified MLA P Vetrivel’s case will be treated as the lead case and since all other petitions rest on similar facts and contentions, one typeset could be filed for easy reference.

To a pointed question from the judge as to whether they intend to submit any fresh material to bolster their case, Raman on citing contentions by a third judge in another case said wherever the two judges have agreed is not the issue and what matters more is on aspects where they differed. However, indications are rife that no fresh aspects would be raked up in the case as it could end up being more time consuming.

Incidentally, though Justice Sathyanarayanancomes in as the third judge following the split verdict on June 14 by the division bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar, he will be the fifth judge to whom the disqualification case has passed on.

The first batch of petitions had initially come before Justice M Duraiswamy last year. But after a change of roster, the cases were posted before Justice K Ravichandrabaabu, who on finding that the case involved Constitutional importance referred the matter to a larger Bench. The cases were then posted before the first bench, which finally ended in a split verdict.