ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

Advocates object to Centre's stand on Jaya's cases

Four hundred advocates have objected to the Centre's argument in the Supreme Court that the Tamil Nadu government has no power to transfer the corruption cases against former chief minister J Jayalalitha and some of her ministers to the three special courts set up to try them.

In a memorandum to the Bar Association of India and the Bar Council of India, copies of which were released to the press in Madras today, the advocates have urged the two organisations to try to end the "unethical conduct" of Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee and Additional Solicitor-General C S Vaidyanathan.

They also urged the BCI to initiate appropriate action against the two for their "unprofessional" conduct and for having brought disrepute to the legal profession.

Meanwhile, senior counsel R Gandhi and members of various advocates' associations have written to Sorabjee, urging him to refrain from appearing in the cases involving Jayalalitha to prevent further damage to his image.

The advocates said it was shocking that the attorney-general, responsible for representing the public interest, had adopted a stand before the Supreme Court that was contrary to the one taken before the Madras high court to help the accused and facilitate the appointment of judges of their choice.

By doing so, Sorabjee had acted in gross violation of rule 8(2) to help his former client Jayalalitha, they charged.

Later, Gandhi told reporters that Sorabjee should refrain from appearing in the cases involving Jayalalitha as he had appeared for her in the Madras high court on the petition challenging the governor's sanction to prosecute her in the corruption cases.

When the matter came up before the high court, Vaidyanathan had not taken the stand that the state government had no power to set up special courts. So, Gandhi surmised, the attorney-general's stand in the Supreme Court, taken at the instance of some "powers" in Delhi, was aimed at protecting Jayalalitha and protracting the legal proceedings.

Senior counsel N G R Prasad alleged that Union Law Minister M Thambidurai was protecting Jayalalitha instead of safeguarding the public interest.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report