A judge of the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday referred to the Special Bench, a petition filed by DMK leader Anbazhagan, who has questioned the authority of advocate Bhavani Singh to represent the prosecution in the appeal filed by AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa questioning her conviction in the disproportionate assets case.
Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, before whom the petition came up for hearing, said it would be appropriate that the petition be heard by the Special Bench of Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy that was specially assigned to hear the appeals filed by Ms. Jayalalithaa and three other convicts as per the Supreme Court’s order.
Senior Counsel C.V. Nagesh, appearing for Mr. Anbazhagan, said the Special Bench was set up only to hear the appeals against trial court’s verdict of conviction.
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Karnataka Advocate-General Ravi Varma Kumar said it was for the court (of Justice Nazeer) to decide whether it wants to hear the petition or not.
Mr. Kumar, however, said Mr. Singh had to file his statement as serious allegations had been made against him in the petition.
As the prosecution — the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) — had appointed a counsel to argue on its behalf in relation to Mr. Anbazhagan’s petition, Mr. Nagesh contend that the High Court had, long back, declared that the DVAC cannot appoint an advocate but it can be represented only through the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) appointed for conducting of the case.
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Mr. Singh, who was the SPP before the Special Court to conduct the trial, was a “stranger” to the case now as the Karnataka government had not appointed him as the SPP for appeals, contended Mr. Nagesh.