Suits filed by OPS transferred to new judge

CHENNAI: Suits filed by former Chief Minister O Paneerselvam against the AIADMK’s July 11 General Council meeting have been transferred to Justice G Jayachandran of the Madras High Court late on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy, who was hearing the case, referred the suits to the Chief Justice for posting it before another judge. The judge had lambasted O Paneerselvam on Thursday for “scandalising and undermining the court by trying to change the judge by approaching the Chief Justice.” 

“I would have recused from the case if a mention had been made before this court. It would be better for a new judge to hear the suits since this court had already dealt with the issue and rejected the plea of OPS,” Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy said on Friday. It need not have been complicated, he said. 

Appearing for OPS, senior advocate P H Arvindh Pandian apologised for the inadvertent action of counsels on record in approaching the Chief Justice with a representation to change the judge. Pandian also produced a letter on Friday withdrawing the representation.   

No allegation has been made casting any aspersions and/or making any allegations against the judge personally. My client’s intention was to ensure that a new judge hears the case as this court has already decided the issue on two occasions, Pandian said. 

The issue pertains to a representation made by OPS and another petitioner before Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari seeking to transfer the hearing of their suits to another judge. On Thursday, when Justice Ramaswamy was informed about this by OPS’s counsel, he slammed it as ‘cheap practice’. “If you were really aggrieved by the observations made by this court you should have explored legal remedy through an appeal and got the order set aside,” the judge said.