A bench of justices P.C. Ghose and R.K. Agrawal also issued notices to Jayalalithaa's close aide Sasikala and two of her relatives, V.N. Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, and asked them to file their replies within eight weeks.
On May 11, the Karnataka High Court had ruled that the special court’s conviction of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader was not sustainable in law, clearing the decks for her return as the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
The Karnataka government, while appealing against the high court order, had said its prosecuting agency had not been made a party before the High court.
In 2003, the Supreme Court had shifted the case from Tamil Nadu, Jaya’s home base, to Karnataka, to ensure that the trial could proceed fairly. Since then, Karnataka has been conducting the prosecution.
The petition, filed through advocate Joseph Aristotle, had also claimed that the High Court had erred in computing the disproportionate assets of the AIADMK leader.
The state government had asked as to whether the High Court had “erred in law” by according the benefit of doubt to Jayalalithaa in pursuance of a Supreme Court judgment holding that an accused can be acquitted if his or her disproportionate assets added up to ten per cent of the total.
It also claimed that the High Court has erred in law in over-ruling the preliminary objections raised by the state government and added that the accused had filed their appeals against conviction without impleading Karnataka as a party.