Special bench constituted to hear Jayalalithaa's appeal today

The Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court has set up a special bench of Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy to hear the appeals filed by the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and three others who have challenged their conviction in the disproportionate assets case.

The setting up of special bench comes after the Supreme Court had earlier on December 18 directed the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court to constitute it to hear the Jayalalithaa's appeal.

An apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, had also asked the High Court to hear the case on a day-to-day basis. The appeals have been listed for hearing today.

Earlier on October 17, the apex court had granted conditional bail to Jayalalithaa, who was sent to jail by a trial court on September 27, saying that hearing on her appeal against conviction in the High Court should be completed within three months from December 18.

The trial court had held Jayalalithaa and three others guilty of corruption. The court had also slapped a fine of 100 crore rupees on the AIADMK chief and 10 crore rupees on each of the three other convicts.