Headlines
SC declines plea to stay Karnataka HC hearing on Jayalalithaa
New Delhi, March 9
The Supreme Court on Monday
declined DMK leader K. Anbazhagan's plea to put on hold the hearing on
former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa's challenge to her
conviction by the Karnataka High Court in a disproportionate assets
case.
The apex court also said it would examine whether the
presence of G. Bhawani Singh as special public prosecutor (SPP) vitiated
the hearing of the appeal.
The bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur
and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel agreed to examine the plea by Anbazhagan
who contended that the Tamil Nadu government had no jurisdiction in
appointing Bhavani Singh as SPP and even the Karnataka government too
was opposed to his appointment as SPP.
Anbazhagan's plea will come up for final hearing on March 18.
As
counsel T.R. Andhyarujina, appearing for Anbazhagan, reiterated his
argument that "(the hearing of) this appeal is vitiated by the presence
of SPP Bhavani Singh who has no authority to appear before the high
court", Justice Lokur asked: "T.R. Andhyarujina, will you make this
submission if the high court upholds the order of conviction by the
trial court?"
"Supposing the conviction is upheld, you may not
remain aggrieved, and if it is not upheld, then you can agitate your
objection of appeal being vitiated," the court told Andhyarujina, who
replied: "I will be happy if conviction is upheld."
Taking the
court through the proceedings of the trial court and its observations
about the conduct of Bhavani Singh, Andhyarujina told the court that
Bhavani Singh's "credibility was doubtful".
Urging the court to
hear their objections on the presence of Bhavani Singh as SPP before the
high court hearing Jayalalithaa's appeal against her conviction,
Andhyarujina said a wrong interpretation was being given to Section 301
of the Code of Criminal Procedure to allow the continued presence of
Singh even before the high court.
The counsel told the apex court
that by its earlier order, it had said that the Karnataka government,
in consultation with the Karnataka High Court chief justice, would
appoint SPP to lead the disproportionate assets case against
Jayalalithaa before the trial court and Bhavani Singh ceases in that
role after Jayalalithaa was convicted and sentenced by the trial court.
He
said the high court's interpretation of Section 301 of CrPC was
"incorrect" that Bhavani Singh could continue to appear before it in the
case.
Section 301 says the public prosecutor in charge of a case
may appear and plead without any written authority before any Court in
which that case is under inquiry, trial or appeal.
Appearing for
Jayalalithaa, counsel Fali Nariman said the apex court had asked the
high court to complete the hearing and pronounce the verdict by April 13
and the latest proceedings would delay the deadline of April 13.
Saying
that it was not putting on hold the hearing of the appeal by the high
court, the apex court issued notice to the Karnataka government.
A
Bengaluru court had on September 27, 2014 convicted Jayalalithaa and
her aides Sasikala Natrajan, V.K. Sudhakaran and J. Ilavarasi in a
disproportionate assets case involving Rs.66.65 crore relating to
1991-1966 when she was chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the first time.
Convicting
Jayalalithaa for possessing assets disproportionate to her known
sources of income, the trial court sentenced her to four years simple
imprisonment along with Rs.100 crore fine.
Jayalalithaa and her
aides were granted bail by the apex court on October 17, 2014, with a
rider that she would complete the filing of her appeal before the high
court within two months by December 18 - a direction she complied with.
The
apex court had on December 18 extended the bail of Jayalalithaa and
three others for four months while asking the high court to decide on
her appeal challenging her conviction within three months by holding
hearing on day-to-day basis.