HC dismisses PIL filed against TN Minister Ramana

, Jul 5: The Madras High Court today dismissed a PIL filed against former Tamil Nadu Revenue Minister B V Ramana seeking a direction to the Chief Electoral Officer to take action against him for allegedly filing a "false" affidavit along with his nomination papers in the 2011 assembly polls.

The first bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Satish K Agnihotri and Justice M M Sundresh dismissed the PIL after recording the endorsement made by the counsel for the petitioner K M Balaji that the petition may be dismissed as withdrawn.

In the PIL, Balaji contended that Ramana had suppressed facts about his first marriage in the affidavit. Ramana was married to one B Lalitha and had two children. However, in the affidavit, he mentioned R Latha as his wife and a girl as his dependent child. He did not mention the name of the children from his first marriage as dependants, Balaji contended. According to the petitioner, filing a false affidavit was an offence as per the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

PTI