Petition against probe order into Jayalalithaa's death dismissed

Chennai, Oct 4 : The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition objecting to the constitution of an inquiry commission led by a retired judge to probe the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J, Jayalalithaa's death.

When the matter came up before Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar, petitioner P.A. Joseph argued that the commission should be set up only after an unanimous resolution was passed in the state Assembly.

"The present impugned government's order are illegal and passed in a mechanical manner without following the mandatory procedure as contemplated under section 3 of Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952," his counsel E. Vijay Anand argued.

He said that by setting up a commission, the state had taken away the Centre's right to appoint an independent commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to probe Jayalalithaa's death in December last year.

But the Tamil Nadu government argued that there was no need for the Centre to set up such a commission.

After hearing both sides, the judges refused to agree with the petitioner and dismissed his petition.