Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami informed the Assembly on Tuesday that action in the death of 13 anti-Sterlite protesters killed in police firing in Thoothukudi in May 2018 would be taken based only on the findings of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI).
The probe by CoI led by retired High Court judge Justice Aruna Jagadeesan was still on.
The CBI too was investigating the case, on the directions of the Madras High Court, he pointed out.
“So, only based on the findings, action could be taken. Impulsive action cannot be taken,” Mr. Palaniswami said and pointed out that a case in this regard was still pending in the court.
He was responding to DMK member M. Ramchandran (Orathanadu) in the House, who questioned the delay by various CoIs in submitting their reports.
Mr. Ramchandran questioned the non-submission of reports by the CoIs constituted to go into Thoothukudi firing incident, jallikattu protests and death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
Law Minister C.Ve. Shanmugam explained that the Justice S. Rajeswaran Commission has been given a final extension to complete the inquiry into the violence on the last day of jallikattu protests and was expected to submit its report soon.
“It is only natural for the Commissions of Inquiry to seek extension of their tenure to complete their probe. If we do not grant extension, the same opposition parties, suspecting something, will question us as to why was the extension was denied,” Mr. Shanmugam argued.
The Minister went on to cite the long delay of Justice M.C. Jain Commission of Inquiry that probed the conspiracy aspect of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, in submitting its report.
