4 years on, panel probing Jayalalithaa’s death makes no headway

The Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission came into being in August 2017 to probe the “circumstances that led to the death” of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. The one-man commission will turn four next month, but no proceeding has taken place in the past two years due to a stay granted by the Supreme Court on a plea by Apollo Hospitals.

On Friday, the commission got its 11th extension – this time for six months – in four years of its existence. Neither the Tamil Nadu government, helmed by DMK since May 7, nor the Commission has knocked the door of the Supreme Court for the past two years asking for the stay to be lifted.

In the four years, Rs 3 crore has been spent on the functioning of the committee, a reply to an application through RTI has said. The Commission was constituted purely for political reasons. Setting up a panel to probe the “mysterious death” of Jayalalithaa was one of the conditions set by the then rebel O Panneerselvam for merging his faction with that of Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Though the AIADMK kept giving extension after extension to the committee for political reasons, the decision of the DMK government to extend its tenure by six months without setting a specific deadline for submission of the report has surprised many.

Though it was OPS who demanded the constitution of a commission, the former deputy chief minister never appeared before the panel despite several summons. He had alleged that Jayalalithaa was hospitalised on September 22, 2016, under mysterious circumstances.

Over 100 witnesses, including Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan, and the then government officials, deposed before the Commission and recorded their statements.

Ousted AIADMK interim general secretary V K Sasikala recorded her version of the events by submitting a voluminous document before the Commission. OPS evading the Commission led to criticism that he had no proof to prove his allegation that there was a mystery in Jayalalithaa’s death.

Jayalalithaa’s death is one of the most politicised issues in Tamil Nadu in the past few years with DMK also demanding a “fair probe” into the AIADMK leader’s demise. The DMK also raked up Jayalalithaa’s death in the run-up to the polls and at one time, the party also demanded a CBI probe.

By extending the tenure of the commission by another six months, political analysts said, the ruling party is also “playing politics” on the issue. They sought to know why the government has not moved the Supreme Court seeking to lift the stay on the proceedings of the Commission.

“DMK is no exception when it comes to playing politics on the issue of Jayalalithaa’s death. It is OPS who betrayed the Commission by not appearing before it. The government should have set a specific deadline for submitting the report by the commission,” Prof Ramu Manivannan, Head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Madras, told DH.

It is clear that the DMK is trying to fish in the troubled AIADMK waters, Prof Manivannan said, adding that the best thing that the government can do is to shut the commission as it serves no public cause.

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