SC declines urgent hearing on Karti's plea to go abroad

The Supreme Court on Thursday declined urgent hearing on a plea by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram, who is facing several criminal cases, seeking its permission to go abroad.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said the issue of Karti Chidambaram going abroad was not an "important matter" requiring an urgent hearing.

"Karti Chidambaram going abroad is not so important that it will get precedent over other (cases)," the bench, also comprising Justices U U Lalit and K M Jospeh said.

Declining urgent hearing, the top court observed that judges have more cases "than they can handle".

Karti Chidambaram has been facing several criminal cases including the grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance in the INX-Media case.

In the INX Media case, the CBI had registered an FIR on May 15 last year against alleged irregularities in the FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when Chidambaram was finance minister.