Madras HC to review 2012 discharge of OPS in corruption case

Chennai: The Madras high court has taken up suo motu revision of a 2012 order discharging former chief minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) in a corruption case, for which the hearing will be held on Thursday, the Bar has said.

This makes it the fourth suo moto revision taken up by Justice N Anand Venkatesh. The justice had in August alone taken up suo moto revision of orders discharging three Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) ministers in disproportionate assets cases- K Ponmudy (education), Thangam Thennarasu (finance) and KKSSR Ramachandran (disaster management).

Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK on August 24 said that they would move the Supreme Court against the Madras High Court’s action, a day after Justice Venkatesh opined that after they formed the government in 2021, the trial court became players in their side of the game.

DMK’s organising secretary R S Bharathi accused Justice Venkatesh of having “malafide intent” by picking and choosing cases suo moto. After the DMK formed the government in May 2021, the Special Court for MP/MLA Cases (Principal Sessions Judge) in Virudhunagar district at Srivilliputhur discharged ministers Thenarasu and Ramachandran in December 2022 and July 2023 respectively. The disproportionate assets cases against them were filed during the previous AIADMK regime.

The justice warned that if this trend goes unchecked the Special Courts meant for MP/MLA trials would become a “playground for all sorts of condemnable practices which are handcrafted and orchestrated to subvert and derail the criminal justice system.”

Now, it is more trouble for OPS who has been politically orphaned after Edappadi Palaniswmai (EPS) expelled him from the AIADMK. OPS had approached the high court and Supreme Court against his expulsion but the court did not favour him.