Apollo Hospital can contest final report, says probe panel
TNN | Mar 9, 2019, 08:33 IST
Picture used for representational purpose onlyCHENNAI: The Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission on Friday informed the Madras high court that Apollo Hospital was free to challenge the final report of the commission once it was out but it cannot challenge the proceedings of the probe panel.
"We know our limitations. The commission is just a fact-finding committee and it is not into any investigation. All that the commission can do is send its opinion to the state government. Even then, neither the state nor the subsequent investigating authority is bound by the opinion," senior counsel A R L Sundaresan said on behalf of the commission.
The hospital has alleged bias on part of the commission, but legally such allegations cannot be levelled against a commission of inquiry since it not an adjudicating authority, he said.
The issue pertains to pleas moved by Apollo challenging the proceedings of the commission into the correctness of the treatment provided to former chief minister J Jayalalithaa while she was hospitalised.
Submitting his final arguments on behalf of the commission, Sundaresan said the ultimate mandate of the commission was to find out the truth and rule out rumours regarding Jayalalithaa's death.
As to the allegation of prejudice on the part of the commission on the basis of applications filed by its counsel seeking to implead the chief secretary and the then health secretary as party respondent to the proceeding on grounds of collusion and conspiracy with the hospital, Sundaresan said, "All actions of the counsel for the commission cannot be directly attributed to the commission. Even in the application for impleading, the commission has not passed any order and has adjourned it."
Noting that 90% of the proceedings are already complete, Sundaresan said the hospital cannot seek to stall the proceedings of the commission without challenging the government order or the terms of reference that too after participating in the proceedings.
Recording the submissions, a division bench of Justice R Subbiah and Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy directed the commission and Apollo to file their written arguments by March 12.
"We know our limitations. The commission is just a fact-finding committee and it is not into any investigation. All that the commission can do is send its opinion to the state government. Even then, neither the state nor the subsequent investigating authority is bound by the opinion," senior counsel A R L Sundaresan said on behalf of the commission.
The hospital has alleged bias on part of the commission, but legally such allegations cannot be levelled against a commission of inquiry since it not an adjudicating authority, he said.
The issue pertains to pleas moved by Apollo challenging the proceedings of the commission into the correctness of the treatment provided to former chief minister J Jayalalithaa while she was hospitalised.
Submitting his final arguments on behalf of the commission, Sundaresan said the ultimate mandate of the commission was to find out the truth and rule out rumours regarding Jayalalithaa's death.
As to the allegation of prejudice on the part of the commission on the basis of applications filed by its counsel seeking to implead the chief secretary and the then health secretary as party respondent to the proceeding on grounds of collusion and conspiracy with the hospital, Sundaresan said, "All actions of the counsel for the commission cannot be directly attributed to the commission. Even in the application for impleading, the commission has not passed any order and has adjourned it."
Noting that 90% of the proceedings are already complete, Sundaresan said the hospital cannot seek to stall the proceedings of the commission without challenging the government order or the terms of reference that too after participating in the proceedings.
Recording the submissions, a division bench of Justice R Subbiah and Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy directed the commission and Apollo to file their written arguments by March 12.
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