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Thambidurai waves Article 365 in Karunanidhi's face

Union Law Minister M Thambidurai on Saturday said the Tamil Nadu government's blatant refusal to furnish information on the special courts to the Centre might force the latter to invoke Article 365 in the state.

''A situation has been created where the government of India may be compelled to issue directions to ensure compliance by the state with the laws made by Parliament. I only hope that the Tamil Nadu chief minister and the state law minister will not precipitate such a situation,'' he said in a five-page statement in New Delhi.

Taking strong exception to the action of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and his law minister, he asked why the state government was evading an answer on the Tamil Nadu Special Courts Bill, 1997.

''Why did the government pass the order on April 30, 1997 and transfer the case from one special judge to another judge?'' he asked.

Article 365 of the Constitution deals with a case where the state has failed to comply with the Centre's directions. The President may dismiss the state government in such a case if he feels a situation has arisen where the affairs cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

Thambidurai said the Tamil Nadu Law Minister Aladi Aruna's statement describing the petitioners before the Supreme Court as 'cowards' was in contempt of the court.

''If he does not desist from making such statements, he will have to face consequences,'' he said adding that the courts should decide legal issues on merit basis.

The Union minister said Aruna would recall that when Karunanidhi faced corruption charges in 1976, he had contended before the courts that he could not be prosecuted before a special judge because he was not a public servant.

''Will Mr Aruna describe his leader ( Karunanidhi) as a coward trying to seek legal loopholes?'' he asked.

The minister said All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalitha and her former cabinet colleagues wanted a fair trial in accordance with the law.

He wondered if restricting the jurisdiction of the special courts from the offences committed between June 1991 to May 1996 was only to protect Karunanidhi and his family from past deeds of corruption.

Thambidurai said it needs to be explained why the cases pending before a special judge were transferred to three other judges and the state government ''usurped'' the powers of the Centre under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Under the PCA, he continued, the Centre had powers to specify the cases in areas where there was more then one special judge.

The state government also did not set right the 'constitutional infirmities' in the Tamil Nadu Special Courts Bill, 1997, after the Union government pointed out its objections, Thambidurai said.

UNI

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