Madras HC Lists Former Minister SP Velumani's Quashing Petitions Before Special Bench

The minister had moved the High Court seeking to quash the two FIRs filed against him based on two reports submitted by the DVAC. The minister submitted that the DVAC had already given a clean chit to him and thus the subsequent FIRs was improper.

Previously the state had submitted that the matter should be heard by a special bench constituted to deal with offences relating to MPs and MLAs. This objection was however overturned by the first bench which observed that the bench had prima facie jurisdiction since other petitions filed by Arappor Iyakkam (an NGO) was also tagged with the cases and thus there was no restriction on the bench hearing the matter.

When the matter came up today, AG Shunmugasundaram and State Public Prosecutor Hassan Mohammed Jinnah submitted that the matter should be heard by the division bench dealing with MP/MLA offences. Advocate V Suresh, appearing for the NGO Arappo Iyakkam also supported this submission.

However, Senior Counsel SV Raju vehemently opposed this submission by submitting that the matter should be heard by the first or the second bench.

Case Title: Arappor Iyakkam v. The Director and others

Case No: WP No 34845 of 2018

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