In what could give further ammunition to the political opposition in Tamil Nadu against Jayalalithaa, the Supreme Court has listed the US Dollars Gift case against the TN CM as one of the several final-disposal cases which it will take up for speedy completion in early 2016.
The apex court has prepared a list of cases which are in their final stages of hearing and will start hearing them from January 4, 2016. Jayalalithaa’s case is listed at number 311 in the list.
This comes at the crucial time as Tamil Nadu assembly goes to polls in 2016 and Jayalalithaa’s alleged involvement in corruption scandals is one of the key issues of the opposition parties.
The drive to dispose of pending cases in their final stage is a part of the CJI’s larger agenda to reduce accumulated arrears in courts over the years.
The case which the SC seeks to dispose off soon pertains to a CBI appeal against a Madras High Court judgment setting aside the prosecution against Jayalalithaa on the ground of inordinate and unexplained delay during investigation and trial. The CBI had justified the delay in investigation on the grounds of having to deal with authorities in the US and UK. If the apex court now rules in favour of the CBI, the case could be reopened for trial again.
The US Dollars Gifts case which is the one other case apart from the Disproportionate Assets case which is still being actively pursued by the courts and investigating agencies. According to the CBI, Jayalaithaa received a donation of Rs 3 lakh US dollars from abroad during 1992-93. Since it was a gift in foreign exchange, no tax was levied. But when P Chidambaram, then with Tamil Manila Congress, was finance minister in the H D Deve Gowda government, he asked the CBI to identify the source of the donation and start an investigation.
The Madras HC had however dismissed in the case on grounds of delay. In 2012, SC issued notice to Jayalalithaa after the CBI said that the HC had committed a serious error. The SC then also issued notice to ADMK leaders KA Sengottaiyan and A Thirunavukkarasu, who were accused of abetment.