The Supreme Court on Monday held it is only “just and proper” to constitute a medical board to assist the Justice A. Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry gather facts on the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at Apollo Hospitals, Chennai in 2016.
The Bench of Justices Abdul S. Nazeer and Krishna Murari had indicated orally on November 30 that they would direct the constitution of the medical board.
In its seven-page order, the apex court directed that the Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) would nominate a panel of doctors, specialists in the fields of treatment of ailments as suffered by the late Chief Minister.
The Inquiry Commission has to furnish the medical board with complete records of the proceedings. The court permitted the medical board to participate in “all further proceedings of the Commission and furnish a copy of the report to the Commission.”
It underscored that a copy of the report would also be furnished to Apollo Hospitals, represented by senior advocate Aryama Sundaram and advocate Rohini Musa.
The Apollo counsel reacted to the order by calling it a “historic victory”. The lawyers pointed out that Apollo has been “allowed to produce any number of witnesses to establish its case and finally the medical board will hand over a copy of its report to the Commission and will give Apollo a copy too.”
Apollo had moved the apex court accusing the Commission of bias, violation of the principles of natural justice and conducting the fact-finding exercise outside its jurisdiction. The Commission had denied the allegation of bias, saying it was “rhetorically made without providing any perspective of the matter.”
Mr. Sundaram had contended that the reputation of the premier hospital was “blighted overnight” by the Commission, which took a tangent which was “unbelievable.”
The hospital had urged the Supreme Court to direct the Commission to share records and permit it to participate in the examination of witnesses in the inquiry process. The State had appointed the inquiry commission headed by Justice Arumughaswamy, a retired Madras High Court judge, on September 25, 2017.
The Commission’s terms of reference were to examine the circumstances which led to the hospitalisation of Jayalalithaa on September 22, 2016 and the nature of treatment given to determine the cause of hospitalisation and her subsequent death on December 5 that year.
