Judge refuses to hear Jaya's appeal

Chennai, June 9 (UNI) Mr Justice T Sudanthiram of the Madras High Court today refused to hear an appeal filed by AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa against the order of the Economic Offences Wing Court, Chennai, dismissing her discharge petition.

When the petition came up for hearing, Mr Justice Sudanthiram said ''in a connected case, I have appeared as a defence counsel for a co-accused by name Sudhakar. Hence, the Registry is directed to post the matter before some other court after obtaining necessary order from the Chief Justice.

Last week, vacation judge Mr Justice M Venugopal admitted two appeals filed by Ms Jayalalithaa and posted the case for further hearing today.

Former Union Minister (BJP) and Supreme Court Senior Counsel Ravishankar Prasad appeared in the court on behalf of the AIADMK leader.

The Income Tax Department had filed the case against Ms Jayalalithaa before the EOW court for not filing Wealth Tax returns for the year 1993-94.

UNI XR GD RR HT2009