North India Statesman
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Disqualified Tamil Nadu minister and DMK leader K Ponmudi has been reinstated, days after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction and three-year jail sentence in a disproportionate assets case.
A case was registered against the minister and his wife by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in 2011. Ponmudi was the Minister of Higher Education and Mines in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) regime from 2006 to 2011.
State Legislative Assembly Speaker M Appavu reinstated Ponmudi, who will continue as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). The Speaker said that Ponmudi's membership in the state assembly has been restored. Besides this, Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote a letter to the Governor asking him to administer the oath of office to Mr. Ponmudi as minister today or tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Justice N Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court scheduled the final hearing of the suo motu amendment filed against the acquittal of former Tamil Nadu minister K Ponmudi in the disproportionate assets case (separate from the one heard by the Supreme Court yesterday) Is. April 15 to April 19, 2024.
After the disqualification of Mr. Ponmudi, Backward Classes Welfare Minister RS Rajakannappan took charge of higher education. If a court finds members of the legislature guilty, they are legally barred from serving in Parliament or the Assembly.
Mr Ponmudi's tenure as minister and MLA ends immediately after his conviction in December 2023. The disproportionate assets complaint was filed by DMK's rival AIADMK in 2011, the year it defeated the DMK.
prosecution case
According to the prosecution, the accused were accused of amassing assets worth Rs 1.79 crore disproportionate to their documented income sources from April 13, 2006 to March 31, 2010. The couple faced legal action for their inability to provide a satisfactory explanation for this. Discrepancy.
It was the DVAC's case that as of April 13, 2006, Ponmudi and his wife had economic resources and assets worth approximately Rs 2.71 crore, which marked the beginning of the investigation period. By the conclusion of the investigation on March 31, 2010, the couple was found to have financial assets and properties worth Rs 6.27 crore.
The agency argued that Ponmudi, as a public servant, violated the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, specifically section 13(2) read with 13(1)(e). Additionally, his wife was accused of promoting and assisting him in acquiring and possessing economic resources and properties on his behalf.
In 2016, a special court in Villupuram acquitted both of them. The order was passed by T Sundaramurthy, special judge for Anti-Corruption Act cases.
