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HC dismisses plea to have Vajpayee sack 'corrupt' minister

A division bench of the Madras high court today dismissed a petition seeking a direction to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee to advise the President to dismiss Surface Transport Minister Sedapatti R Muthiah as he had been chargesheeted in a corruption case.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice M S Liberhan and Justice E Padmanabhan, dismissed the public interest litigation filed by Palai N Shanmugham, convener of the Civil Liberties Union, at the admission stage.

The petitioner had also questioned the authority under which Muthiah, former Tamil Nadu assembly speaker, was holding office when he was chargesheeted in the case relating to amassment of Rs 4.57 million during his tenure as speaker in the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam regime, which was disproportionate to his known sources of income.

UNI

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