Other States - Pondicherry   

Row over jurisdiction of public prosecutor

Deepa H. Ramakrishnan

"Government cannot replace or supersede the Pondicherry public prosecutor"

PONDICHERRY: After hearing the arguments on both sides on the question as to who should be the public prosecutor in the Sankararaman murder case, the Principal Sessions Judge M Chinnapandi on Friday posted it for orders on January 25.

The judge heard day-long arguments of K.S. Dinakaran and Lakshmana Reddiar, counsel for the Kanchi Sankaracharyas and special public prosecutor (SPP), Special Investigating Team (SIT), Tamil Nadu, T. Balasundaram and additional special public prosecutor M.S Kandasamy.

Mr. Dinakaran, who opened the argument, said since the territorial jurisdiction of the Tamil Nadu Government does not extend to Pondicherry, its order asking the same set of special public prosecutors to continue during the trial in Pondicherry, is violative of the Constitution.

"From the date of the Supreme Court order transferring the case to Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu loses its sovereignty or authority over the case," he added.

The other defence counsel Mr. Lakshmana Reddiar said that the Tamil Nadu Government can not appoint any additional special public prosecutors since only the SPPs can choose advocates to assist them.

He also said, "the Tamil Nadu Government can not replace or supersede the Pondicherry public prosecutor."

Citing several case laws, Special Public Prosecutor (SIT) Mr. Balasundaram said that the appointment of the SPP is the prerogative of the aggrieved State and not of the State to which the case is transferred. "Simply because the case has been transferred the basic factors cannot be changed," he added.

He said the SPP's power would override the powers of the Public Prosecutor.

He also said that the accused has no right to raise objections regarding the appointment of special public prosecutors unless there are allegations against the SPP.

Additional SPP Mr. Kandasamy said that this case had arisen from a crime in the file of the Vishnu Kanchi Police Station in Tamil Nadu. Therefore, the Tamil Nadu Government, which is the aggrieved party, can alone pursue the case. The Pondicherry Public Prosecutor has no right to appear in this case.

"The Government of Tamil Nadu has appointed SPPs only for this case and not for the Pondicherry Division as such. This is well within the ambit of Section 24 (8) of Criminal Procedure Code."

When the Pondicherry Public Prosecutor K. Shanmugam rose to argue, the judge Mr Chinnapandi said that he had retuned the memo of appearance of Mr. Shanmugam in this case and said that as such he had no locus standi to appear and he will not be heard. The hearing in the main case has already been posted to 2 February.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Subsidy for women entrepreneurs: Rangasamy
Pondicherry varsity convocation today
Row over jurisdiction of public prosecutor
Rs 25-crore housing scheme for the poor
Teachers to get higher pay scales
Law college classes to begin

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu