The Madras High Court has decided to approach Chief Justice Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani to place their request to club the six to seven civil suits and petitions related to alleged mismanagement by the Tamil Film Producers’ Council (TFPC), filed over the last few months.
According to a report by The Hindu, Justice PD Adikesavalu, who has been presiding over most of the TFPC cases, said on Tuesday that he will direct the High Court registry to place the matter before the Chief Justice. He also said it was in the best interest of both the factions to clear the cases and hold elections to the council as soon as possible.
The decision was taken with the consent of S Ravindran, head of the council representing the previous office-bearers led by actor-producer Vishal Krishna.
Vishal had moved the court against the Tamil Nadu government’s appointment of special officer N Sekar to manage council affairs. He was appointed after allegations of mismanagement and non-transparency in the council were proved in a government led investigation in April this year.
Vishal also demanded a stay on the ad-hoc committee with Bharathiraja, TG Thiagarajan, R Radhakrishnan and other members, formed to assist the SO, saying that nine of its members were those who lost the 2017 elections. However, the government’s counsel argued that the committee will not interfere in the decisions of the SO and sought time to file a counter response. Since its appointment, the committee has held talks with digital service provides to place producers’ demands for cost-cutting, and recently also met PRO union to take action against reviewers who degrade films. It is speculated that the key members of this committee will contest the next elections.
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In another case, producer R Radhakrishnan filed a petition asking why elections were still not held and that the term of the office bearers ended in April. The court asked Vishal and the government to respond to this by July 16.
The other cases pertain to fund misappropriation by the council filed by Vishal’s opposite faction.
Justice Adikesavalu was reportedly of the view that it would be better to hear the cases together by any one of the Madras High Court judges chosen by the Chief Justice.