Acharya was today appointed by Karnataka government as SPP in place of Bhavani Singh whose appointment was annulled by Supreme Court yesterday, holding that it was "bad in law".
A three-judge bench of the apex court had held that Tamil Nadu government had no right to appoint Bhavani Singh as SPP to appear in the case and it was "bad in law" but made it clear that it does not warrant "de novo" (fresh) hearing of appeals of the convicts, including Jayalalithaa.
Acharya, a former Advocate General, had earlier appeared as SPP in the special court in the disproportionate case, but quit the post citing "suffering" at the hands of "interested parties" in 2012, after which he was replaced by Singh.
Jayachandra told PTI the idea to appoint Acharya is to fill the gap created by the Supreme Court which pronounced that Tamil Nadu government has no right to appoint SPP and the government felt it would be advisable to appoint SPP to make clarifications in the case.
"The government of Karnataka is the prosecuting agency... for the mere reason that the prosecuting agency is not added as a party in the criminal appeal itself warrants dismissal of the criminal appeal," Acharya said.
Justice Kumaraswami is hearing the appeals filed by Jayalalitha and three others challenging their conviction in the case.