SC reject plea for ‘Urgent hearing’ of Sasikala’s swearing-in

TIL Desk/National/Chennai/ The Supreme Court declines an urgent hearing of a PIL seeking to restrain V K Sasikala from taking oath as CM. The court has said there will be no ‘urgent’ hearing of the case, but reschedules to February 17.

A PIL was moved in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking to restrain AIADMK leader V K Sasikala from being sworn in as Tamil Nadu chief minister on the ground that the apex court was likely to pronounce within a week the judgment in a corruption case in which she and late CM J Jayalalithaa were accused.

The PIL was filed by Chennai resident Senthil Kumar, general secretary of NGO Satta Panchayat Iyakkam, hours after the apex court indicated it could deliver its judgment on the appeals challenging the acquittal of Jayalalithaa and Sasikala in a 19-year-old disproportionate assets case.

Kumar, who mentioned in the plea that he will argue the matter in person, sought a stay on Sasikala’s swearing in, contending that if she was convicted and forced to resign, there was a possibility of riots erupting all over Tamil Nadu. He said law and order may worsen in such an eventuality as the state was already facing a “desperate situation” due to cyclone, demonetization and death of Jayalalithaa.