Troubled times for TMC

Last week, Justice S S Subramani of the Madras high court ordered notice on a petition filed by Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy. The recipients of the notice will include Tamil Maanila Congress supremo G K Moopanar and the Tamil Nadu government.

The case involves the Moopanar family's Sri Venkatachalapathy Annadanam Trust. Dr Swamy's case is that he was barred from staging a demonstration at the trust office at Thanjavur, by the state police, to highlight its 'anti-dalit bias'. The court, however, dismissed Dr Swamy's petition seeking to restrain the police from banning his proposed procession.

''Moopanar is anti-dalit, as the trust deed, drafted in the forties, will show,'' Dr Swamy had told the press in late July and early August. He had threatened to stage a procession of dalits to the trust office, if the TMC supremo did not amend the trust deed to extend the benefits to dalits as well, before August 15. The procession plan, the police ban and the court case all flow from there.

The 'trust case' may have a long way to go, but coming as it does in the wake of the legal tangle in the Rajya Sabha membership row involving Moopanar and two party colleagues, the TMC leadership appears to be sailing from one legal controversy to another. Only a week earlier, the Delhi high court, over-ruling the orders of a lower court, served notice to another TMC leader, Union Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, in the Fairgrowth share case, again at Dr Swamy's instance.

The case against Chidambaram involved his buying a promoter's quota of shares in the controversial Fairgrowth group six years ago. Fairgrowth, which featured prominently in the securities scam, has since gone under. Dr Swamy alleges that Chidambaram sold these shares at a substantial profit, violating the norms governing such transfers, and also the wealth tax law.

Chidamabaram resigned as commerce minister from the Narasimha Rao ministry in July 1992 following the Fairgrowth controversy. Says Dr Swamy: ''Quitting the ministerial post for a while, only to come back at the top some time later, does not absolve him of the legal entanglements. As a lawyer, Chidamabaram should know better.''

A greater embarrassment for the TMC leadership may be in store when the Supreme Court hears the Central Bureau of Investigation plea in the the Indian Bank case. Here again, Dr Swamy is the protagonist, alleging that many TMC leaders benefited from the generosity of M Gopalakrishnan, then Indian Bank chairman and managing director, who is now facing criminal charges.

There is also the question of successive extensions granted to Gopalakrishnan, allegedly at a senior TMC leader's behest. Though media reports have mentioned the Committee of Secretaries, headed by then cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah, in this regard, legal responsibility may not stop there once the case opens.

As if all these were not enough, the TMC leadership may be called upon to look the other way -- if not to defend its ally, the DMK -- when the Jain Commission interim report is tabled in Parliament. According to media reports, Justice M C Jain -- who is investigating the Rajiv Gandhi assassination conspiracy -- has extensively referred to the DMK's role in the LTTE expanding its operations in Tamil Nadu.

Dr Swamy, who has moved swiftly against TMC leaders in the courts, has his own share of embarrassment. He had moved similarly against then chief minister Jayalalitha, his then bete noire and now ally, in a series of court cases. Of them, the Tansi land deal case is still pending before the Supreme Court, and the Jayalalitha disqualification case is before the Election Commission. Included in the list is also the Chandralekha acid-attack case targetted at the former IAS officer who is now state president of Dr Swamy's Janata party. The CBI investigation report, sought by Chandralekha, is yet to be presented before the Supreme Court.

Dr Swamy claims he "will pursue all the cases against Jayalalitha to their logical conclusion despite our political alliance. Even the Chandralekha case we are ready to pursue once the apex court fixes a date." Chandralekha has hinted at Jayalalitha's hand in the attack.

EARLIER REPORTS:

Delhi HC directs inclusion of Chidambaram's name in plea
Moopanar resigns from Rajya Sabha
Jain Commission report may upset UF applecart