The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to N.D. Tiwari, on an appeal by Rohit Shekhar, 30, seeking a direction to the former Andhra Pradesh Governor to accept him as his natural son.
A Division Bench comprising Justices A. P. Shah and Rajiv Sahai Endlaw asked Mr. Tiwari to file a reply by February 9.
Last year Justice S.N. Dhingra dismissed a suit filed by Mr. Shekhar saying it was time-barred and that the court did not have the jurisdiction to hear it.
Justice Dhingra held that the plaintiff had made his mother a defendant just to create the jurisdiction of the court as his mother stayed in Delhi. The court could not exercise territorial jurisdiction on the basis of the residence of such a defendant, the judge said.
Counsel for Mr. Tiwari argued before Justice Dhingra that the court had no territorial jurisdiction to hear the suit because his client was a resident of Andhra Pradesh.
Now, in his appeal, Mr. Shekhar argued that the single Bench was wrong in dismissing the suit on the ground of limitation assuming that Delhi had no jurisdiction. It should have either returned or rejected the suit, instead of dismissing it on the ground of limitation.
Mr. Shekhar, grandson of the former Union Minister Sher Singh, said that he was born of a relationship between Mr. Tiwari and his mother Ujjwala Singh, who is also associated with the Congress.
