Former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa died in December 2016.
The Madras High Court today refused to pass interim orders on a plea by Apollo Hospitals seeking to restrain the Commission of Inquiry from looking into the correctness and adequacy of the medical treatment given to former chief minister J Jayalalithaa before her death in 2016.
When the plea came up for hearing before a division bench comprising justices R Subbiah and Krishnan Ramasamy, the hospital's counsel said they were not challenging the government appointed inquiry commission but only saying it should "not conduct trial".
The government has every right to know the circumstances that led to the Jayalalithaa's death, the counsel said. But he opposed the commission headed by Justice Arumughaswamy looking into medical treatment provided to Jayalalithaa.
The petitioner said the panel does not have such a mandate. The government should clarify if it had a mandate to look into accuracy and correctness of the treatment, he added. He urged the court to direct the commission to not call doctors till orders are passed in this regard by this court.
A counsel for the panel has alleged that Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan conspired with the hospital and "inappropriate treatment" was provided to Jayalalithaa. Both have denied the allegations.
Apollo Hospitals too has accused the panel of being biased against it.
The Commission was set up in 2017 to "inquire into the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation on September 22, 2016 and subsequent treatment provided to the leader till her death on December 5, 2016."