Chandru foresees tussle with Raj Bhavan in Ponmudy case

According to retired Justice Chandru, the Governor has no option except to administer the oath when it comes to ‘inclusion’, unlike in Senthilbalaji’s case, which is ‘expulsion’. If he (the Governor) does not do so, they (the state) must explore alternative methods, Chandru added.

“His MLA post was disqualified based on the court verdict and now the apex court has stayed the verdict. This is a constitutional issue. We have to explore the legal jurisprudence over the case and the check precedence,” said a top official when contacted.

In the case of Rahul Gandhi’s defamation case, the SC stayed the verdict and Rahul returned to Parliament. In the case of Ponmudy, it is a DA case. But, when the court stays the verdict, the conviction stays suspended, the official said.

It may be noted that in 2002 the DVAC registered a case against Ponmudy, his wife, his mother-in-law and two others under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, for acquiring properties which were disproportionate to his known sources of income from 1996 to 2001 when he was a minister in the DMK regime. Later, in 2023, Ponmudy became a Minister in the present regime the Vellore court discharged him and his wife from the case.

Raising suspicion in the manner in which the principal district court in Vellore cleared Ponmudy from the DA case, Justice N Anand Venkatesh, in August last year, initiated suo motu criminal revision against the order passed by the trial court and issued notice to Ponmudy.

On December 19, 2023, after hearing the arguments, Justice G Jayachandran, who held the MP/MLAs cases portfolio, convicted the couple. The judge held that the couple amassed 64.90 per cent of assets over their known source of income and sentenced them to 3 years of simple imprisonment with a fine.