Amma gone, table clogged, officers see an opportunity

ON SEPTEMBER 21, J Jayalalithaa’s last day before her hospitalisation, she inaugurated, through videoconferencing, from her Fort St. George office what has been dubbed as the world’s largest solar power plant, a Rs 4,550-crore project of the Adani group, set up in Kamudhi of Ramanathapuram district.

Jayalalithaa had given clearance for the project much ahead as part of her ambitious plan to increase power generation to 3000 MW. Fortunately, for the developers, it was one of the few files that she saw among the thousands that were sent to her.

After M G Ramachandran died, the story goes, a small truck had to be sent to fetch all the files that were being sent up to him but he never saw during his long illness.

That could be an apocryphal tale but even before Jayalalithaa fell seriously ill and was admitted THE PARLIAMENTARY Standing Committee on law and justice noted on Thursday that the government may assume a “veto power” and reject any name recommended by the Supreme Court collegium for appointment as a judge if it succeeds in inserting clauses of “national security” and “larger public interests” in the proposed Memorandum of Procedure (MOP).

Raising the red flag amid an ongoing tussle between the executive and the judiciary over appointment of judges, the panel said that the government’s insistence on adding stipulations of “national security” and “larger public interests” gave rise to serious apprehensions regarding the finalisation of the revised MOP, which would guide all future appointments.

“The Committee apprehends that the government may reject any name duly approved by the Supreme Court collegium under the veil of those parameters. This would tantamount to giving veto power to the government, which is not the mandate of the Constitution,” stated the 87th report of the parliamentary standing committee that was examining reasons for delay in judges’ appointments.

In making such observations, the panel, chaired by Congress leader Anand Sharma, has concurred with the views of Chief Justice of India T S Thakur and

RELATED REPORT