BENGALURU: Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa cannot act either as a Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislature or as a Minister or the Chief Minister so long as her conviction order has not been suspended, and so far it hasn’t been suspended by any higher court, according to a legal expert.
The Supreme Court while granting bail to her on Friday has suspended sentence of four years imprisonment, for a period of two months, and not the order of the lower court convicting her under Prevention of Corruption Act.
“She can, however, enter into any government building and hold any meeting she wants with any officer of the government through her political power. In fact, she could even attend cabinet meetings and even influence cabinet decisions as a special invitee.
She could inaugurate any programme of the government. In short, she could do almost anything except sign on any paper as the Chief Minister or the Minister of Tamil Nadu. Obviously, she would be free to run and manage her party affairs without any hindrance,” said K.V. Dhananjay, Supreme Court Advocate.
He further explained, “I don’t think that she should be pleased with her bail with so many conditions attending it.
If it is true that her counsel undertook to keep her under house-arrest even though the order of the court itself does not impose any such condition, she will have to worry over interventions in the Supreme Court by her political rivals interventions that won’t succeed, but could force the court to impose more onerous conditions in the next round of hearing.
If her trial had more than 5,000 pages of exhibits and evidence and 1,000 pages of judgment, she must certainly worry if the High Court would be forced by the Supreme Court to dispose of her appeal within a period of 3 months.
When you appeal a case at the High Court and want it to overturn your conviction, you certainly want the High Court to hear your case in peace and not be impatient over deadlines and timelines.”
