HC constitutes Special Bench to hear Jaya case

The Karnataka High Court has constituted a Special Bench of Justice C R Kumaraswamy for hearing the appeal filed by former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa related to the Rs 66.65- crore disproportionate asset case.

According to a notification of the Karnataka High Court, Chief Justice DH Waghela has constituted the Special Bench to hear the appeal on a day-to-day basis, following an order passed by the Supreme Court on October 17, 2014, on special leave petitions related to "J Jayalalithaa, etc -vs- State of Tamilnadu".

The case is scheduled to come up for hearing on Friday before Justice H Billappa, who is taking up urgent and date given matters of Justice Kumaraswamy's bench, since the latter will not be sitting on the Bench on the day.

The order comes as the latest in the almost 18-year-old case relating to the alleged amassing of disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 66.65 crore, by Jayalalithaa and three others including her close aide Sasikala Natarajan.

Special court judge, John Michael D'Cunha, on September 27, 2014, convicted Jayalalithaa and others, and sentenced them to four years simple imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 100 crore to Jayalalithaa. The others were sentenced for four years simple imprisonment and Rs 10 crore penalty each.

Jayalalithaa and others were sent to the Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru on the same day, and she was in prison for nearly three weeks, before attaining interim, conditional bail for two months from the Supreme Court on October 17, 2014.

Her bail plea was twice rejected by the Karnataka High Court, within the period.

Following the sentencing, Jayalalithaa lost her position as chief minister and was also disqualified as a member of the Legislative Assembly.

The bail was granted on conditions that Jayalalithaa should ensure that she would extend full co-operation for timely completion of the court procedures, and submit all relevant documents by the middle of December. Once papers filed, the High Court has to take decision on the case in three months. Following this, Jayalalithaa has filed documents running over around 200,000 pages with the High Court in the second week of December.

In December, 2014, her bail was extended by the Supreme Court till April, 2015.