State questions appointment of prosecutor in Jaya case

The Karnataka government on Wednesday claimed before the Supreme Court that the prosecutor, who has been removed from the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha, was not one of the four names recommended to the Chief Justice of the High Court for appointment.

This contention was countered by the AIADMK chief who imputed political motive to the action as special public prosecutor G Bhavani Singh was continuing in the post since February 2 this year.

Jayalalitha was alleged to have amassed disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 66.65 crore during 1991 and 1996 when she was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. The case was transferred to Bangalore in 2003 on an order passed by the apex court.

Appearing for the Karnataka government, senior advocate M N Rao submitted before a Bench of Justices B S Chauhan and S A Bobde that the government had suggested four names to the acting chief justice of the High Court and the name of Singh was not included in those four names.

His submission came on the court’s query if written consent or consultation was taken at the time of appointment and removal of special public prosecutor. Senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, representing Jayalalitha, raised a question over the move contending that the appointment took place on February 2.  The Karnataka government had on August 26 issued a notification withdrawing Singh from the case.

Rao sought an additional two days’ time to file the response of the State government on the petition filed by Jayalalitha challenging removal of the prosecutor.

Rohtagi opposed the plea saying that the State government wanted to delay the matter as the trial judge was set to retire on September 30. The court allowed the plea of the State government and posted the matter for further hearing on September 6. It also asked the government to produce original records.

The apex court had on August 30 restrained the government from going ahead with the appointment of a new special prosecutor in the case.

During the hearing, senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for DMK leader K Anbazhagan, an intervenor, claimed that there were serious allegations against the prosecutor concerned.