NEW DELHI, May 12: The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition filed by AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha challenging the Madras High Court directive to a Chennai court to proceed with trial against her in the multi-crore coal import scam.A division bench comprising Justices G T Nanavati and S N Phukan dismissed the petition after hearing her counsel, senior advocate K K Venugopal, who contended that the High Court directive was contrary to law as the trial could not proceed without the police filing a final inquiry report.The trial court had adjourned the hearing of the case after taking cognisance of the preliminary report filed by the police in the scam when the accused pleaded that the police wanted time to file the final report after conducting an inquiry in foreign countries.However, on appeal, the High Court had set aside the trial court order for postponement of the trial on the ground that speedy trial in the case was required.The Apex Court bench, while dismissing Jayalalitha's petition, observed that the High Court was of the view that "for the present, whatever material is collected is enough to proceed with the trial."The case began with a complaint filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy alleging irregularities committed by Jayalalitha and others in the import of coal.Pursuant to the complaint, the court had asked the police to investigate the matter and the police filed a report alleging commission of offences under the Indian Penal Code and various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.The police alleged that the Jayalalitha Government accepted a bid for supply of coal at US $ 40 per tonne but did not consider a Singapore company's bid offering coal at US $ 35 per tonne.By accepting a highly priced bid from a company, which allegedly supplied poor quality coal, the police said the State suffered loss to the tune of Rs 3.5 crore.Meanwhile, Jayalalitha, on May 7, moved a special court trying the multi-crore `coal import scam' to discharge her from the case contending there was no evidence connecting her to the case.Alleging that she had been projected as one of the main accused in the case due to political vendetta, the AIADMK chief contended that the dates of events clearly showed she could not have had any knowledge about the import till the file reached her after it had been approved by all other officials and ministers concerned.She contended that the prosecution was entirely relying on the statement of V Sundaram, then an ex-officio member of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) and also State Public Works Department secretary, whom she described as `unreliable'.
