Madras HC asks Vellore mayor to apologise

The Madras High Court today asked Vellore Mayor P Karthiyayini to apologise for passing a resolution condemning the judge who sentenced former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate wealth case.
Noting that the regret expressed by the mayor of Vellore Municipal Corporation was not sufficient, the court also asked her to file an appropriate affidavit of her public apology.
"The regret, if any, has to be to the judge whom she has scandalised and to the judiciary by filing an appropriate affidavit, if she has truly felt sorry for what she has done," the bench said.
"It consider appropriate to implead Mayor Mrs. P Karthiyayini as respondent and issue notice to her to find out whether she is desirous of expressing and publicising her regret before we consider issuing notice of criminal contempt," it further said.

Earlier, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sathyanarayanan which was hearing a batch of petitions filed against the agitations AIADMK supporters condemning the judgment directed impleadment of Vellore Municipal Corporation.
In its earlier order, the bench had directed the Standing Counsel for Vellore Municipal Corporation to file an affidavit stating that whether the resolution still subsists.

The information about the resolution was brought to the notice of the court by senior counsel P Wilson for one of the petitioners R S Bharathi.
The Vellore Municipal Commissioner filed an affidavit today with a letter submitted by the mayor in which she stated that she had read out only the text which was suggested by councilors and partymen who insisted to pass a special resolution in the Vellore Corporation Council meeting.

'While no resolution condemning the judge was passed, I inadvertently and without being conscious of the implications arising therefrom, read out a text prepared at the instance of the partymen and councilors without any intention of denigrating the judiciary. I offer my unconditional apology for having read the aforesaid text," she said.