PIL seeks health status of CM

CHENNAI: Is Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa conscious and in good health to take important decisions and to hold discussions with ministers and officials? Raising this question, social activist

Traffic Ramasamy

has filed a PIL in Madras high court for a direction to the principal secretary to Tamil Nadu governor, chief secretary, home secretary and others, besides

Apollo Hospitals

, to file a health status report along with her photograph in court.

On Monday morning,

Ramasamy

mentioned the matter before a division bench of

Justice M M Sundresh and Justice

R Mahadevan, seeking urgent hearing of his PIL. After the bench gave its nod, he got the matter numbered. It is likely to be taken up for hearing on Tuesday.

Jayalalithaa was admitted in Apollo Hospitals on September 22 for 'fever and dehydration', and since then, she has been under intense treatment. The hospital issues periodical medical bulletins about the chief minister's health, and on Sunday, the hospital said she was being treated for infection and that she was responding well to antibiotics. It said an expert, Dr Richard Beale, had been flown from London and that he concurred with the line of treatment at the hospital. Governor Vidyasagar Rao visited the hospital on Saturday and issued a statement expressing satisfaction with the treatment being given to Jayalalithaa.

However, on Monday, Ramasamy said the statements did not give real picture of the disease as well as the treatment being given to the chief minister, and added that earlier her meetings and discussions with ministers and officers used to be publicised through media releases.

The PIL claimed that in some parts of the state, politicians and local rowdies even forced closure of shops, and said people were apprehensive about public order due to rumours surrounding the chief minister's health.

Citizens must know the real status, and doubts could be dispelled if photographs or television clippings of the chief minister in action, handling day to day affairs of the state, were released, Ramasamy said. In this regard, he pointed out that several important government activities such as Cauvery river water sharing row required her attention.