TANSI land acquisition case

TANSI land acquisition case (or TANSI case) was a sensational case against J. Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu, during 1991-96. Jaya Publication and Sasi Enterprises, the companies in which J. Jayalalithaa and her aide V. K. Sasikala had holdings, purchased lands of Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation (TANSI), a state government agency, in 1992. The case was filed by Subramanian Swamy and chargesheet were filed during the following DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) government headed by M. Karunanidhi in 1996. Jayalalitha and her aide, Sasikala were convicted in the lower court, which sentenced her to two year rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹50,000 on 9 October 2000. The case had political implications as Jayalalithaa was disqualified from contesting the 2001 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election. Though Jayalalithaa's nomination papers were rejected, she took oath as chief minister after the victory of AIADMK in the elections. The Supreme Court disqualified her in September 2001, resulting in her stepping down and elevation of O. Panneerselvam as the chief minister. The governor of Tamil Nadu, Fathima Beevi, who administered oath to J. Jayalalithaa, was advised to step down by the union ministry, who also sent the report to the President of India.

The Madras High Court acquitted her and other five accused in the case of all the charges on 4 December 2001. The Supreme Court upheld the order of Madras High Court on 24 November 2003 on grounds of lack of evidence. She came back to power winning the 2002 Tamil Nadu assembly by-election from Andipatti constituency in March 2002.Jayalalithaa returned the land to TANSI as per a Supreme Court Judgement in 2008.^[1]