The Supreme Court (Dec 11,
2014) rejected AIADMK chief and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's
plea to advance the hearing of her appeal against her conviction and sentence
in a disproportionate assets case.
Ms. Jayalalithaa, is
currently out on bail; she was sentenced to four years in jail in September by
a trial court in Bangalore for collecting land, gold and other assets vastly
exceeding her income in a case that had dragged on for nearly two decades.
The top court, while granting
her bail in October, had asked the AIADMK chief's lawyers to ensure all
paperwork for her appeal was completed by December 18, or her bail could be
cancelled. It said it would then ask the Karnataka High Court to decide her appeal
within three months to ensure a faster trial than the current case, which
dragged on for nearly two decades.
Senior lawyer Fali Nariman, appearing
for the AIADMK chief, informed the Supreme Court that all relevant documents
had been submitted to the Karnataka High Court which is hearing her appeal
against her conviction in the assets case. He didn't cite any reason for
advancing the date of hearing of his client's appeal.
Ms Jayalalithaa was obliged
by law to step down as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister after her conviction. She was
replaced by loyalist M Panneerselvam at a swearing-in ceremony where many
Cabinet members sobbed into handkerchiefs in an emotional display of fidelity.
Her case was transferred from
Tamil Nadu to adjacent Karnataka in 2001 to ensure her political clout would
not influence her trial.
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