J. Jayalalithaa

Jayalalithaa Jayaram or J.Jayalalithaa (born February 24, 1948, Mysore) is the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, India (since March 2, 2002). She is also the general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (a regional party in the state). Currently in her second term, she is popularly called Amma (mother) by her followers.

Corruption Charges

She is well known for her corruption charges including but not limited to the TANSI case where the case against her was the strongest. Many other cases were registered though little were followed through due to political clout and reported bribing of the judges.

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On September 21, 2002http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/09/22/stories/01220001.htm, a five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court of India ruled in a unanimous verdict that "a person who is convicted for a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not less than two years cannot be appointed the Chief Minister of a State under Article 164 (1) read with (4) and cannot continue to function as such". Thereby, the bench decided that "in the appointment of Ms.Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister there has been a clear infringement of a Constitutional provision and that a writ of quo warranto must issue". In effect her appointment as Chief Minister was declared null and invalid. Therefore, technically, she was not the Chief Minister in the period between May 14, 2001 and September 21, 2001. She manged to circumvent this by appointing a puppet Chief Minister O Panneerselvam until she returned to her post.

Related Topics:
Constitutional bench - Supreme Court of India - O Panneerselvam

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