Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and three other accused will continue to be on bail till the Karnataka High Court finally disposes off their appeals against conviction in a disproportionate assets case, the Supreme Court ordered on Friday.
The extension of their bail period came even as the Karnataka High Court itself sought time till April end from the apex court to deliver judgment on the appeals. The Supreme Court's three-month deadline to complete the appeal proceedings ends by mid-April.
A bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Arun Mishra agreed to the High Court's request for leeway, while fixing May 12 as the tentative date for delivery of the judgment.
But as pointed out in court, it is highly unlikely the High Court would be able to pronounce its judgment by that time.
For one, the High Court would be dependent on the decision of a newly-formed three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, set up on April 16 to decide the question whether the entire appeal proceedings held in the past three months was vitiated due to the presence of Special Public Prosecutor Bhavani Singh.
This new bench was formed by the Supreme Court after an earlier bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and R. Banumathi, on April 15, delivered a split verdict on DMK leader K. Anbazhagan's plea to remove Mr. Singh.
Mr. Anbazhagan had alleged that Mr. Singh was appointed prosecutor only for trial and had exceeded his authority by appearing in the High Court too.
Justice Lokur agreed with Mr. Anbazhagan to hold that Mr. Singh had no authority to appear as prosecutor. The judge held that the appeal proceedings were vitiated and the High Court was bound to hear the appeals afresh.
But Justice Banumathi differed, holding that the appeal proceedings were in the right as Mr. Singh did have the authority.
Now, it is up to this three-judge bench to decide to agree with either Justice Lokur or Justice Banumathi. The hearing on this reference is scheduled to start on April 21, 2015.
In case, the three-judge bench agrees with Justice Banumathi that Mr. Singh had authority, the judgment on the appeals, could possibly come by May 12.
On the other hand, if the three-judge bench decides to agree with Justice Lokur about Mr. Singh, the appeals would have to be entirely re-heard after appointing a new prosecutor. This would take another three to four months in the least.
In such a case, the CJI has given the High Court liberty to approach the Supreme Court again on May 12 for more time.
Friday's hearing comes after the apex court's extension of bail of Ms. Jayalalithaa and the other three accused in the case -- Sasikala, Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran -- till April 18, 2015.
It had paved the way for a speedy hearing of their appeals against conviction in the disproportionate assets case by asking the Karnataka High Court Chief Justice to constitute a Special Bench to "exclusively" hear the case on a day-to-day basis and complete it in three months.
Chief Justice Dattu had decided on this "keeping in view the peculiar circumstances" of the case.
The Chief Justice had even orally observed that in case the appeal proceedings are not completed in three months, the apex court could be duly informed and an extension of 15 days could be considered.
The four accused were granted bail first on October 17 on the condition that their appeal papers are duly filed before the Karnataka High Court by December 18 as a step to ensure there is no delay in appeal process.
Ms. Jayalalithaa and the three co-accused guilty of amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income to the tune of Rs. 53 crore during her first term as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister between 1991-96. Ms. Jayalalithaa was sentenced to four years' imprisonment by a special Bengaluru court on September 27. The trial had taken 18 years to conclude.
Twists and Turns
- › The charges: Conspiracy: As CM, Jayalalithaa conspired with three others to acquire assets to the tune of Rs. 66.65 crore
- › Disproportionate Assets: The assets were disproportionate to her known income
- › Abetment: The other three abetted the offence by acting as benami owners of 32 private firms
- › Prosecution's take: Modus operandi was to deposit cash in benami firms’ accounts
- › Prosecution's take: The firms gave her address as theirs while opening accounts
- › Prosecution's take: Ms. Jayalalithaa spent crores of rupees on renovations and constructions, her foster son’s wedding and possessed huge quantity of jewellery.
- › Counter: Prosecution born and out of malice and vendetta, many illegalities and defects in investigation. She had sufficient income form legal sources. Others were not benamidars.
- › Counter: No material to show sarees, watches and footwear seized were bought during her tenure.
- › Counter: Income-Tax authorities and Tribunals have accepted their returns and valuation of assets.
Published - April 17, 2015 02:07 pm IST
