NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, JULY 23
The tenure of a panel set up by the Tamil Nadu government to probe the circumstances leading to former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s death has been extended by six more months, official sources said here on Friday.
The tenure of Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry, which would end on July 24, has been extended by six months and this is the eleventh extension, sources said, adding a case connected to the panel is expected to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court soon.
The apex court had stayed proceedings of the panel in April 2019 in an appeal filed by Apollo Hospitals against an order of the Madras High Court which had rejected its objections vis-a-vis the inquiry.
Among the points of contention the hospital mentioned in the High Court was that the panel is not competent to adjudge the quality or nature of treatment given to Jayalalithaa as the commission is not an expert in medicine.
The Tamil Nadu government had constituted the panel in September 2017 under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 after a number of people flagged suspicion about the circumstances leading to her death.
Previously, the panel’s tenure had been extended for duration including three and six months. Many people including doctors and government officials had deposed before the commission till January 2019 and subsequently the matter went to the High Court and then the top court.
The commission was tasked to inquire into the circumstances leading to the hospitalisation of Jayalalithaa on September 22, 2016 and treatment provided by the Apollo Hospitals till her death on December 5, 2016.
