The Madras High Court has ordered the Income Tax department to furnish details of the assets and liabilities of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
The order was on a petition filed by K Pugazhendi, a lawyer for Amma Peravai. In his petition he had stated that Jayalalithaa had assets all over the country, and that there was a huge difference in the assets recorded in the judgement of the criminal court in Bengaluru during the hearing of the disproportionate assets case, and the assets and liabilities disclosed by Jayalalithaa before the Election Commission. The petition also stated that since the former chief minister had not specified who inherits her property in her will nor had mentioned any legal heir in her election affidavits, the court must step in and appoint an executioner to manage the property.
Justices N Kirubakaran and Abdul Quddhose heard the petition on Wednesday in which they raised question as to the details of the location and valuation of Jayalalithaa’s property. Jayalalithaa’s nephew J Deepak appeared for the hearing and stated that only the Income Tax department had the details about her property. Hence the judges ordered that the IT department be added as a respondent in the case. They also added that a report of the property details be submitted to the court by the IT department.
The judges also ordered that the Enforcement Directorate and the Tamil Development department of the government of Tamil Nadu be added as respondents in the case and posted the case for a hearing on January 7.
Earlier, on December 18, the court had directed Jayalalithaa’s niece J Deepa and nephew Deepak to verify the details of properties furnished by the late chief minister. The court had asked Deepa and Deepak to verify if the property disclosed by Jayalalithaa in her affidavits before the Election Commission and those present in the Supreme Court judgment in the disproportionate assets case were correct.