HC no to restrain commission inquiry on Apollo hospital over Jayalalithaa death

The Madras High Court Monday declined to pass interim orders on a plea by Apollo Hospitals seeking to restrain the Commission of Inquiry from looking into the correctness and adequacy of the medical treatment given to former chief minister J Jayalalithaa before her death in 2016. When the plea came up for hearing before a division bench of justices R Subbiah and Krishnan Ramasamy, the hospital's counsel said they were not challenging the Tamil Nadu-government appointed inquiry commission but only saying it should "not conduct trial".

The government has every right to know the circumstances that led to the Jayalalithaa's death, the council said. But he opposed the commission headed by Justice Arumughaswamy looking into the adequacy and correctness of the medical treatment provided to Jayalalithaa during her hospitalisation in September-December 2016.

The petitioner said the panel does not have such a mandate. The government should clarify if it had a mandate to look into the accuracy and correctness of the treatment, he added. He urged the court to direct the commission to not call doctors till orders are passed in this regard by this court. To this, the court said "no".

Senior counsel ARL Sundaresan, who appeared for the panel, submitted that the commission at every stage had given the opportunity to the hospital's counsel to respond. The bench then directed the commission to file a counter and posted the matter for further hearing on February 15.

A counsel for the panel has alleged that Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan conspired with the hospital and "inappropriate treatment" was provided to Jayalalithaa during her hospitalisation in September-December 2016. Both have denied the allegations. Apollo Hospitals has accused the panel of being biased against it.

The Commission was set up in 2017 to "inquire into the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation on September 22, 2016, and subsequent treatment provided to the leader till her demise on December 5, 2016."