Justice Singhvi takes ill, Dinakaran's plea adjourned

Justice Singhvi is heading the bench which is monitoring the investigations by CBI and other agencies into the high- profile 2G spectrum scam. Today, the bench of Justices Singhvi and C K Prasad briefly heard Dinkaran's counsel Basava Prabhu Patil before adjourning for lunch.

However, when the counsel, including U U Lalit appearing for the Rajya Sabha-appointed committee took their seats after the lunch, the court staff informed that the hearing has been cancelled for the day as Justice Singhvi had taken ill.

Contacted by PTI, the staff at the judge's residence said "Justice Singhvi had fever but was alright" and would resume the hearing tommorow. The apex court had on April 29 stayed the probe by the Rajya Sabha-appointed panel after Dinakaran expressed apprehension of a biased inquiry by it in view of lawyer P P Rao's presence in the panel and the committee had exceeded its jurisdiction.

The bench had also asked the  committee's counsel to respond to Dinkaran's plea. The committee is headed by Justice Aftab Alam of the Supreme Court and includes Karnataka High Court Chief Justice J S Khehar and Rao.

Dinakaran, who had initially sought Rao's recusal alleging bias towards him, had early this week moved another application in the apex court against the ongoing probe contending it has exceeded its jurisdiction in probing charges of judicial misconduct and corruption against him.

He had alleged that the panel has expanded the ambit of the probe beyond what was initially adopted by the Rajya Sabha motion. Today, during the brief hearing, Dinakaran's counsel Patil submitted that the panel not only exceeded its jurisdiction but also did not furnish him either the rules or the procedure being adopted to examine the charges.