Madras HC asks why panel probing Jayalalithaa death can't give report in 3 months

The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to explain why the Justice Arumughaswamy Commission set up to inquire into the death of the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa should not be ordered to file a final report within three months. The observation was made while the bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy was hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed asking the court to direct the Tamil Nadu government to wind up the commission set up in 2017.

The court then adjourned the hearing for six weeks as the government has been asked to file an explanation. The government led by the AIADMK had issued an order setting up a commission of inquiry headed by retired High Court judge Justice Arumughaswamy to probe the mystery surrounding the death of the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. The PIL alleged that the term of the commission was being extended and that the final report has not been filed yet. 

The Justice Arumughaswamy Commission has so far questioned more than 154 people, including government officials and Apollo Hospital doctors who had treated Jayalalithaa. Jayalalithaa’s close aide, VK Sasikala who was serving a jail sentence in Bengaluru prison had submitted a written affidavit to the Commission in answer to their queries. The one-man commission has been given over nine extensions. The Tamil Nadu government set up the commission on September 25, 2017 after several raised questions over the days leading up to the death of Jayalalithaa on December 5, 2016 in Apollo Hospital, Chennai. 

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In April 2019, Apollo Hospitals had made an appeal to the Supreme Court to stop the proceedings of the Commission, alleging that the latter was working in a biased manner. Justice Arumughaswamy immediately urged the Tamil Nadu government to file a petition to revoke the stay. However, the case is pending in the apex court. The circumstances of Jayalalithaa’s death and the investigation by the Arumughaswamy Commission had become a topic of debate during the campaign for the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. 

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