Newly-appointed Special Public Prosecutor B V Acharya today filed a written submission in the Karnataka High Court praying for dismissal of appeals by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and three others seeking quashing of the special court verdict convicting them in the disproportionate assets case.
Acharya was today appointed by Karnataka 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.
Law Minister Jayachandra said the government had issued a notification on the appointment of Acharya after consulting legal experts including Advocate General Ravivarma Kumar to make submissions on behalf of state government. 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 said 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 the SPP and the government felt it would be advisable to appoint SPP to make clarifications in the case. In the written submission, Acharya said since the prosecuting agency, Karnataka government, was not added as a party in the case that itself warrants dismissal of the appeal by the convicts.
"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
