Chennai: The Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry probing the death of late chief minister Jayalalithaa submitted in the Madras High Court that since 90 percent of the work was completed and that the Apollo Hospital could not seek to stall the proceedings now.
Senior Counsel ARL Sundaresan appearing on behalf of the panel submitted before a bench comprising Justice R Subbiah and Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy that the hospital cannot seek such a relief without first challenging the terms of reference of the commission. He further termed the hospital’s petition as a knee-jerk reaction.
He further added that politicians concerned in the case had to be questioned and so the final report was not yet prepared. Only after the final report was out can the hospital challenge it but not at this stage.
Sundaresan also rejected the charges of bias and prejudice levelled by the hospital on the panel. A bundle of facts had already been collected and the Panel would make recommendations in its report to the government, which would then take a call on accepting or rejecting those. A commission of inquiry was not an adjudicating authority and so such allegations could not be levelled against, he added.
To find out the truth and rule out rumours regarding the circumstances leading to the former CM‘s death was the ultimate aim of the panel, he said.
After recording the submissions, the bench directed the commission and the hospital to file their written arguments by 12 March and adjourned the matter to that date.
Jayalalithaa died on December 5, 2016 and a Commission of Inquiry was constituted the next year by the ruling AIADMK government following allegations and suspicions surrounding her death. The probe panel under Arumughasamy was set up in September 2017 and since then more than 100 people have deposed before it.