The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the inquiry into the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who died in December 2016, ANI reported. The court passed the order on the basis of a petition filed by Apollo Hospitals – where Jayalalithaa was treated – challenging the constitution of the Justice Arumugaswamy inquiry commission.
The hospital moved the top court after the Madras High Court, earlier this month, allowed the commission to continue its investigation into her death.
Apollo Hospitals accused the commission of being biased against it and alleged that it went beyond its terms of reference in seeking to study the medical treatment Jayalalithaa was afforded during her two-and-a-half month stay at the hospital. Apollo Hospitals argued that the commission even wanted records of former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran’s death, according to NDTV.
In January, the hospital had filed a separate writ petition urging the High Court to constitute an independent medical board composed of specialist doctors not associated with either the state government or the hospital, and answerable only to the court. The commission had opposed the writ petition.
The Arumugaswamy commission earlier claimed that state Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan had conspired with Apollo Hospitals to provide “inappropriate” treatment to Jayalalithaa, a charge dismissed by both the medical facility and the officer.
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