HC adjourns Anbazhagan's plea in Jaya case to Feb 10

The Karnataka High Court was today informed by the state government that it did not take any step on the issue of appointment of a Special Public Prosecutor in the appeal by AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa against her conviction in the wealth case as it would not be appropriate for it to interpret the Supreme Court order.

This was stated by Advocate General Ravivarma Kumar in response to a query by the court why it was "inactive" in the matter of appointment of SPP.

A bench comprising justices N Kumar and B Veerappa posed the question during the hearing of an appeal by DMK General Secretary K Anbazhagan against rejection of his plea for discontinuation of Bhavani Singh as SPP in the case.

"Why were you inactive in the matter of appointment of SPP in the case, because of this, there is so much of confusion," Justice Kumar observed.

Responding to the query, the Advocate General said since the Supreme Court had not made any mention of the appointment of SPP in its order granting bail to Jayalalithaa, Karnataka government did not take steps in this regard as it would not be appropriate for it to interpret the apex court order.

He also submitted that, on an immediate basis, the government cannot appoint the SPP, as it would amount to sub-judice since the matter is being heard in this court.

However, the Karnataka government would abide by the court decision on this matter, the Advocate General said.

Justice Kumar also told Anbazhagan's counsel, C Nagesh, "Since you have submitted a copy of Supreme Court order, according to it, there is no clarity on the appointment of SPP. The bench has to go by the apex court's order, and hence you should be going before the Supreme Court to seek clarification. Why are you troubling this court?"

The bench then posted the matter to February 10 for next hearing.Justice Byrareddy of the court had rejected Anbazhagan's prayer and directed him and Karnataka government to approach the Supreme Court for clarification on the issue of procedure of the appointment of the SPP as it was improper for him to interpret its order.

On October 17 last, a Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu, had ordered that the hearing in the high court on the appeal, filed by Jayalalithaa challenging her conviction and sentence in the case, be conducted on a day-to-day basis and completed in three months from Dec 18.
The order was passed while granting conditional bail to Jayalalithaa who, along with three others, was sentenced to four years jail term by a special court for allegedly amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income during 1991-96 when she was the chief minister for the first time.