The High Court has the authority to intervene in cases of glaring illegalities in criminal proceedings, especially involving public officials, to uphold justice and prevent abuse of power.

ORDER :

(N. Anand Venkatesh, J.)

This suo motu criminal revision under Sections 397 & 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, the Cr.P.C.) is directed against an order dated 03.12.2012 passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Sivagangai (for short, the Special Court) allowing Cr.M.P.No.1372 of 2012 under Section 321 of the Cr.P.C., and permitting the withdrawal of prosecution of Special C.C.No.7 of 2012.

I - FACTUAL BACKDROP TO THE SUO MOTU PROCEEDING

2. The circumstances, under which, the suo motu proceedings were initiated, are as under:

(i) Mr.O.Panneerselvam (A1) was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from Periakulam constituency on an AIADMK ticket in May 2001. Between 19.5.2001 and 21.9.2001 and 02.3.2002 to 12.5.2006, he was the Revenue Minister of the State. Between 22.9.2001 to 01.3.2002, he was the Chief Minister of the State. In May 2006, the AIADMK was voted out of power in the State.

(ii) On credible information that Mr.O.Panneerselvam, while holding the posts of Revenue Minister and Chief Minister of the State, had accumulated properties and pecuniary resources that were disproportionate to his known sources of income, a preliminary enquiry was conducted by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC). Finding that there existed material to proceed further, a case in Crime No.14 of 2006 was registered by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Department, Madurai on 07.9.2006 against Mr.O.Panneerselvam under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for brevity, the POCA). The investigation was taken up by the then Investigation Officer - one Mr.N.Kulothunga Pandian, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, Madurai.

(iii) During the course of investigation, which took nearly 3 years, the Investigation Officer (IO) examined 272 witnesses and collected 235 documents. In the meantime, the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly - Mr.R.Avudiappan granted sanction for prosecution under Section 19(1) of the POCA vide proceedings dated 09.6.2009. (iv) Upon completion of the investigation, the IO - Mr.Kulothunga Pandian filed a final report under Section 173(2) Cr.P.C., before the CJM, Theni on 30.7.2009 alleging the commission of offences under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(e) of the POCA and Section 109 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(e) of the POCA against Mr.O.Paneerselvam (A1), his wife Tmt.P.Vijayalakshmi (A2), his son - P.Ravindranathkumar (A3), Mr.O.Raja (A4), Tmt.Sasikalavathy (A5) - wife of A4, Mr.O.Balamurugan (A6) and Mrs.B.Latha Maheswari @ Latha Balamurugan (A7) - wife of A6. (v) It must be mentioned here that A4 and A6 are the brothers of A1. The allegation in the final report was that the accused persons had accumulated wealth, which was 374% times disproportionate to their known sources of income, for which, no satisfactory explanation was forthcoming. On the aforesaid final report, the Special Court took cognizance of the offences therein by an order dated 30.7.2009 in C.C.No.3 of 2009 and issued summons to the accused for their appearance on 25.8.2009.

(vi) On 03.5.2011, G.O.Ms.No.254 Home (Courts II) Department was issued constituting a Special Court at Madurai for Trial of Cases under the POCA. On 02.8.2011, a petition under Section 173(8) of the Cr.P.C. was submitted before the CJM, Theni by all the accused themselves. The records would further reveal that this petition was taken up by the CJM, Theni on 27.9.2011 and an order was passed on 04.10.2011 allowing the petition of all the accused seeking