MADURAI: In a big reprieve to former health minister C Vijayabaskar, who was indicted by Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission in connection with the hospitalisation and death of former chief minister
J Jayalalithaa, Madras high court on Monday quashed the commission’s findings and recommendations to conduct inquiry against the ex-minister alone.
Justice Arumughaswamy has ticked off four people -- V K Sasikala, her relative Dr K S Sivakumar, former health minister C Vijayabaskar and former health secretary J Radhakrishnan -- for a series of omissions, including failure to allow a ‘lifesaving’ angioplasty on Jayalalithaa. He recommended further probe and action against them.
Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan allowed Vijayabaskar's plea seeking to quash the Justice Arumughaswamy commission report insofar as observations, remarks and recommendations to conduct inquiry against him.
In his petition, Vijayabaskar stated that the findings and observations made against him in the report were without any legal basis and thus, they could not be construed as ‘factual finding’ and the same ought to be expunged in its entirety, Vijayabaskar said. These findings have the tendency to cause a dent in the reputation and the political image which he enjoys in the state.
Noting that the report was fraught with procedural infirmities and predetermined conclusions, the ex-minister said its recommendations, observations and findings were baseless.
“The commission has completely traversed beyond the scope of reference for which it was commissioned and has proceeded to give scathing observations against him, when there is absolutely no evidence on record to implicate him. The commission ought to have inquired into the circumstances that led to the death of former chief minister Jayalalithaa, as mandated by the terms of the reference. The findings and the observations made in the report clearly suggest that the commission has proceeded at an entirely different tangent and has accentuated conspiracy theories with no basis at all,” he said.
Apprehending adverse consequences, Vijayabaskar referred to a government order dated October 17, 2022, wherein the chief secretary had said: “it was decided to initiate appropriate action under the commissioner of inquiry report’s recommendation against certain individuals, after obtaining the considered opinion of the legal experts.”
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