New Delhi: Supreme Court lawyers engaged by former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa are ready with applications seeking exemption from surrender and for interim bail in the event of Karnataka high court Judge Kumaraswami dismissing her appeals upholding the conviction.
Highly-placed sources told this newspaper that fine-tuning of the applications will be made soon after the verdict is out at 11 am on Monday and by lunch time, senior lawyers will be ready to make a “mention” before Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu to pass urgent orders on granting exemption from surrender and to grant temporary bail till formal appeals are filed against the high court judgment.
Considering the fact that actor Salman Khan was granted interim bail by the Bombay high court within few hours of the trial court’s verdict in the hit and run case, Ms Jayalalithaa’s lawyers are hopeful of getting bail for her.
The high court verdict in the appeals from Ms Jayalalithaa and three others is extremely crucial for her political prospects. The trial court’s verdict on September 27, 2014 resulted in her being unseated as the chief minister and the four year sentence in the Rs 66 crore disproportionate assets case barred her from contesting the elections for 10 years (six years plus the four year sentence). If Ms Jayalalithaa is acquitted on Monday by the high court, then there will be no impediment on her staking claims to take over as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu once again. She will have to contest a bye-election within six months to get elected to the Assembly. However, if the verdict is not favourable and if the high court upholds conviction then she will have to await the Supreme Court’s decision in the appeal.
Ms Jayalalithaa was the first chief minister to be disqualified following the Supreme Court verdict in 2013 declaring unconstitutional the protection of three months given to MPs/MLAs in office to prefer an appeal and get a stay in the higher court.
