The Karnataka High Court today dismissed a PIL against Jayalalithaa being sworn in as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, observing that the petition had been filed for “publicity purpose”.
The vacation bench of Justices Venugopal Gowda and Veerappa imposed a penalty of Rs 25,000 on the petitioner, advocate Raviraj Gururaj Kulkarni.
The petitioner submitted that since the recent High Court order acquitting Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case had “flaws”, there are possibilities of someone moving the Supreme Court challenging the judgment.
Hence, she should not be allowed to be sworn in as chief minister, he said.
The bench observed that the motive behind filing the petition appeared to be publicity purpose. It had also been filed with “an ulterior motive”, the bench said, adding the petition was liable to be dismissed.
Jayalalithaa was cleared of all charges in the disproportionate assets case by Justice C R Kumaraswamy of the Karnataka High Court on May 11, paving the way for her return as Chief Minister.
As the prosecuting state, Karnataka is yet to take a decision on filing an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the high court verdict which cleared the decks for her return as chief minister.
