By IANS,
New Delhi : An AIADMK legislator Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking imposition of President’s Rule in Tamil Nadu, saying there was complete breakdown of the constitutional machinery in the state following violent clashes between police and lawyers in the Madras High Court premises Feb 19.
Admitting legislator D. Jayakumar’s lawsuit, a bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice P. Sathasivam said it would hear it Wednesday along with another one on the ongoing lawyers’ strike in the state.
Jayakumar, who was the state’s law minister between 2001 and 2006 and between 1991 and 1996, when the J. Jayalalitha-led AIADMK was in power, said in his lawsuit that “he was constrained to approach the apex court to bring to its notice the complete breakdown of the constitutional machinery there and virtual inability of the government to rule it as per law.”
“The mis-governance in the state has reached its lowest point so much so that unprecedented and absolutely unacceptable situation involving closure of the courts in the state have reached on account of the large scale Feb 19 violence,” said the petitioner.
“The closure of the high court by the reason of the ugly, excessive and unfortunate use of force by police is a clear pointer to the position that there is no governance in the state,” said Jayakumar.
“The political establishment has been virtually indifferent to the happenings. The chief minister of the state, who also holds the home portfolio has merely purported to order a CBI probe into the incident,” the petitioner added.
Pointing to the chief minister’s call for cooperation between the police and the lawyers, the petitioner submitted to the court that “all these are scarcely sufficient response to the situation.”
“What is more, it has been reported that the chief minister has on Feb 22, announced that he shall undertake a fast if the issue is not resolved,” said the legislator.
“This shows the helplessness of the party in power in resolving the crisis by positive action, which is the proof of the fact that there is indeed a breakdown of the constitutional machinery in the state,” said Jayakumar.
Seeking imposition of the President’s Rule in the state, the legislator also sought a judicial probe into the clashes between the lawyers and the police.
Lawyers in Tamil Nadu have been holding protests in support of the Sri Lankan Tamils. Earlier this week, lawyers threw eggs on Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy inside court premises, and some lawyers were arrested. The lawyers then clashed inside the high court to protest the arrest.