Jayalalithaa appeal in Supreme Court runs into 4,000 pages

Bengaluru, June 22: The appeal filed by the Karnataka government in the J Jayalithaa disproportionate assets case in the Supreme Court comprises 4,000 pages.

The appeal which will in all probability filed by Tuesday contains annexures running upto 3,900 pages while the grounds seeking to set aside the verdict of the Karnataka High Court contains 100 pages.

An appeal was preferred before the Supreme Court after the Karnataka High Court acquitted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and three others in the disproportionate assets case.

The High Court had reversed the order of the trial court which had held Jayalalithaa guilty and sentenced her to four years imprisonment apart from imposing a fine of Rs 100 crore.

A 4,000 page appeal

The state of Karnataka has prepared a 4,000 page appeal to be filed in the Supreme Court. While the contentions and ground seeking a reversal of the High Court order runs into 100 pages, the rest of the documents contains annexures and also the verdict of the High Court for reference.

An officer in the Karnataka legal department informed OneIndia that everything is ready and the appeal has even reached New Delhi.

However a formal letter for the Supreme Court advocates stating that the case is being handed over is needed in such an appeal. The Karnataka Law Department will send that letter to New Delhi today following which the appeal will be officially filed.

It may take another day or two, the officer added. We want this appeal to come up for hearing during the first week of July. We expect it would take that much time as there are certain procedures that would have to be followed.

The procedures would include scrutiny of the appeal and in case of any clarifications, the Karnataka legal team would be informed about this.

Grounds for appeal

The Karnataka government states that it has drafted a very strong appeal. There are various citations of earlier Supreme Court orders in corruption cases which will be part of this appeal.

The primary ground in the appeal will be the arithmetic errors alleged to have been committed by the High Court while delivering its verdict which gave Jayalalithaa the benefit of the doubt leading to her acquittal.

The Advocate General of Karnataka had in a strongly worded letter to the Government of Karnataka stated that an appeal was needed to be filed. Karnataka should not betray the trust of the Supreme Court.

When the Supreme Court had transferred the case from Tamil to Karnataka it had done so taking into consideration the high reputation that the Karnataka judiciary has.

The AG also said. The Karnataka government must uphold this faith and ensure that an appeal is filed in the Supreme Court challenging the acquittal of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

The AG said that the order of the High Court is not sustainable. A conviction had been earned in the trial court, but the same was reversed in the High Court. The High Court verdict in my opinion is not sustainable and hence it becomes a fit case to file an appeal seeking a conviction, the AG further pointed out.

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