By L A Adithya
A political twist has followed the Madras High Court’s disposal of a plea alleging bribery in the appointment of temporary government advocates in Villupuram district. A day after Justice Mohammed Shaffiq recorded the state’s submissions and closed the case, the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) expelled the petitioner, its own Villupuram district joint secretary and advocate, M Gnanasoundari, from the party.
Gnanasoundari had approached the court alleging that appointments to government pleader posts in Villupuram were finalised before the application deadline, and that bribes ranging between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 30 lakh were collected for each post. She claimed that after the notification inviting applications was issued on June 5, the party’s district secretary allegedly instructed TVK-affiliated advocates to apply, and that a selection list was circulated on WhatsApp groups on June 29 – the same day she had applied for one of the posts – and before the application deadline had closed.
Advocate General Vijay Narayan submitted that the appointments were only temporary, since “the courts cannot be left without the government being represented.” He said several thousand applications had been received since the June 5 notification and would be “duly evaluated and assessed,” adding that the process of making permanent appointments would take three to six months. Recording these submissions, and noting that advocates from both the DMK and the AIADMK were among those considered, the court found no indication of discrimination and disposed of the plea on July 17.
But the courtroom resolution did not end the matter politically. A day later, Villupuram South district secretary N Mohanraj – the same district secretary Gnanasoundari’s petition had accused of instructing party advocates to apply for the posts – announced her removal from the party’s primary membership, saying she had “teamed up with opponents and made false allegations, and conducted herself contrary to the party’s policies, discipline and regulations.” He also asked party members to cut off contact with her.
Before disposing of the case, the court had itself flagged that certain TVK leaders’ names appeared to have been included in the petition to attract media attention, and it recorded the submission after her counsel agreed to drop those names from the plea. This is a detail the party’s expulsion order leaned on to paint her allegations as politically motivated rather than evidence-based.
Gnanasoundari has not issued a detailed public response to her expulsion. Whether she moves court again – this time over her removal from the party, or to pursue the bribery allegation independently of TVK remains to be seen.