Madras HC stays operation of Justice Arumughaswamy commission report pertaining to remarks against former TN health minister

MADURAI: The Madras high court on Tuesday stayed the operation of the report of the Justice Arumughaswamy commission insofar as observations, remarks and recommendations to conduct inquiry against the former health minister C Vijayabaskar. Justice G R Swaminathan passed the order while hearing the petition filed by former minister C Vijayabaskar.

The Justice Arumughaswamy commission probed the circumstances leading to the death of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa in 2016. The commission submitted its report in August 2022. The commission has indicted V K Sasikala, her relative Dr K S Sivakumar, Vijayabaskar and former health secretary J Radhakrishnan for a series of omissions including failure to allow a “life-saving” angioplasty on former chief minister.

In his petition, Vijayabaskar stated that the commission had completely traversed beyond the scope of reference for which it was commissioned and has proceeded to give scathing observations against him when there is absolutely no evidence on record to implicate him.

The commission ought to have inquired into the circumstances that led to the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, as mandated by the terms of the reference. The findings and the observations made in the report clearly suggest that the commission has proceeded at an entirely different tangent and has accentuated conspiracy theories with no basis at all, he stated.

Hence, Vijayabaskar moved high court Madurai bench seeking a direction to quash the report of Justice Arumughaswamy commission insofar as the observations, remarks and recommendations made against him.