Jayalalithaa death probe panel going beyond brief, Apollo tells Madras HC

Chennai :  Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd has approached the Madras High Court to restrain the Justice A. Arumugaswamy Commission from probing into the adequacy or correctness of the treatment given to late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa at the hospital.

Jayalalithaa was in Apollo Hospitals here for 75 days in 2016 before she died there due to cardiac arrest on December 5, 2016.

The Apollo Hospitals have also filed a petition in the high court to appoint an independent medical board, if the Commission’s terms of reference also cover an inquiry into the treatment given to Jayalalithaa.

“We feel the Commission is going beyond its terms of reference. The terms of reference for the Commission does not intend to go into the adequacy of the treatment given to Jayalalithaa. The inquiry is now changing towards a case of medical negligence,” a person close to Apollo Hospitals told IANS.

The Apollo Hospitals had filed the petition on Tuesday and the matter is coming up for hearing on February 11.

The Commission had earlier turned down the request of Apollo to set up a medical board.

In an order issued detailing the terms of reference of the inquiry commission, the Tamil Nadu government had said it would “inquire into the circumstances and situation leading to the hospitalisation” of Jayalalithaa on September 22, 2016 and “subsequent treatment provided till her unfortunate demise” on December 5 that year.

Ever since Jayalalithaa’s death, there have been allegations of foul play.

Published on: Feb 9, 2019 at 18:08 IST

IANS