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Synopsis

The Madras High Court has allowed the withdrawal of appeals filed during the prior AIADMK administration in 2019 by the State Government of Tamil Nadu against the current Chief Minister MK Stalin and Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan.

The bench of Justices R Suresh Kumar and K Kumaresh Babu wrote in the order dated March 28 that "the court cannot insist upon a party to conduct the case, particularly, when a party wishes to abandon his claim without reserving any right".

The issue relates to a Commission of Inquiry constituted to investigate alleged irregularities in the construction of new legislative assembly buildings from 2008 to 2010 when MK Stalin served as Deputy Chief Minister and Duraimurugan as the Public Works Department Minister in the then DMK govt headed by late chief minister M Karunanidhi.

In 2011, the AIADMK government led by Jayalalithaa instituted the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the project. 

Given that the inquiry encompassed former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi as well, all three—M Karunanidhi, MK Stalin, and Duraimurugan—filed separate writ petitions before the Madras High Court in 2014 contesting the formation of the Commission of Inquiry. They secured interim orders in their favor, effectively causing the Commission of Inquiry to remain inactive since then.

In August 2018, Justice SM Subramaniam ordered the State government to suspend the inactive Commission of Inquiry. Following the death of M Karunanidhi, the AIADMK government led by Edappadi K Palaniswami dissolved the Commission and replaced it with a DVAC inquiry in September 2018.

Thereafter, MK Stalin and Duraimurugan challenged the DVAC inquiry through a writ petition before the high court and on December 13, 2018 the Government Order was quashed by the bench of Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana (now retired). Also. in view of Justice Sathyanarayana's order, the commission's chairperson tendered resignation.

Following this, the AIADMK government filed an appeal against Justice Sathyanarayana's ruling in 2019. However, with the change in government in 2021, the DMK administration sought withdrawal of the appeals against the single judge order.

Notably, Jayavardhan Jayakumar, the son of former AIADMK minister D Jayakumar sought impleadment in the case and urged the court not to permit the withdrawal. He stated that he had filed a complaint concerning the same matter before the DVAC.

However, the division bench closed his application by terming it as unnecessary. It opined that even though Jayavardhan Jayakumar has a locus standi to be represented in the government's appeals, permitting his application would be pointless since the appeals had already been withdrawn.

"We are also conscious of the fact that the Government Order and the direction issued by the Government to conduct a detailed enquiry which they now seek to wriggle out, cannot take away the right of the impleading petitioner from seeking appropriate remedy in the manner known to law, if he is so advised," the bench added. 

Case Title: The State of Tamil Nadu and Others v. MK Stalin and Another