The judgment on the disproportionate assets case involving Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and three others (Jayalalithaa?s friend Sasikala, her nephew Sudakaran and her niece Ilavarasi) will be pronounced on September 27 by the special court in the outskirts of Bangalore. The verdict, which was scheduled for September 20, has been postponed as the high court had to issue a notification regarding shifting of the court and, other arrangements also had to be made by the police in view of the Z-plus security cover provided to Jayalalithaa.
Delays are nothing new to this case. Expressing his inability to pronounce the verdict within the stipulated 14 days from the conclusion date of the trial in June, Judge John Michael Cunha attributed the delay to ?voluminous evidence that required to be scanned and the lengthy written arguments having been filed?. In the early stages of this trial, Sasikala demanded Tamil translations of the papers which took forever.
As pointed out by Tamil weekly Vikatan, the country has seen five parliamentary elections in the 17 years that gone by since the case was filed. The Madras High Court has seen 16 chief justices. After the case was shifted to the special court in Bangalore, four judges have come and gone. The original government prosecutor is no longer handling the case. Many of those who investigated the case have retired. No other such case has seen so many delays in India’s legal history. Both the prosecution and the defence would have spent far more than the (disputed) R66 crore during this period.
When Jayalaithaa-led AIADMK swept the elections the first time in 1991 and she became the Chief Minister, her assets were declared as totaling almost R3 crore. Five years later, it had zoomed up to nearly R66 crore. She took a salary of R1 as the CM. When the DMK returned to power five years later, various corruption cases were slapped on her including what has come to be known as the ?disproportionate assets? case. She was even sent to prison for one of the cases. All the corruption cases have been thrown out, but the assets case has gone on and on.
The Supreme Court had directed in 2003 that the case be completed soon. It also ruled that the hearing be moved to Bangalore on the basis of a petition filed by DMK party leader K Anbazhagan that a fair trial in Tamil Nadu was not possible given that Jayalalithaa had become the CM in 2002. The Supreme Court said that the hearing in this case should be conducted on a daily basis. However, it has taken more than ten years for this trial to be over.
After the case was slapped on her, Jayalalithaa has won elections twice. In 2011, she nearly wiped out the opposition. Apart from the power crisis in the state, for which there seems to be no end in sight, she has kept her following happy. She is riding the crest of popularity. The CM has always argued that the cases against her were politically-motivated and that she cannot take responsibility for the activities of Sasikala and her family even though Sasikala lives with her (Sasikala is not her relation). Sasikala has also said that Jayalaithaa was not aware of her family?s business deals.
The political buzz in the state is that whichever way the case goes (no one is making any predictions), it will be a turning point for Jayalalithaa politically and personally. If the verdict is in her favour, she is going to be unbeatable for a long time. The opposition DMK and the smaller parties are all in total disarray. The DMK itself is bogged down by the 2G case and the Aircel-Maxis charge sheets. However, if the case goes against her, Jayalalithaa has to step down immediately. She cannot contest elections for several years depending on the verdict. She will go on appeal, but still cannot contest till the verdict is given. Then again, the next assembly election in the state is two years away.
AIADMK has no other leader than Jayalalithaa. Her finance minister, O S Panneerselvam, who is known more for his loyalty to her than anything else, will be stepping in as he did on an earlier occasion. It does not appear as though her popularity will be diminished by the verdict. Her party sources say there will be a sympathy wave. The opposition is hopeful that if she is pronounced guilty, they will be vindicated. The DMK is the main opposition party in spite of the drubbing it got in the assembly elections. It hopes that it can build a strong alliance once again.
Going by earlier verdicts, most politicians get punished only on disproportionate assets cases. The ultimate fate of the matter here, however, lies with the defendant.
sushila.ravindranath@expressindia.com