BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and DMK leader K Anbazhagan have suffered a setback with the Karnataka High Court on Thursday rejecting their pleas to be part of the proceedings of the appeal filed by AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa against her conviction in the disproportionate assets case.
In his separate orders, Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy rejected Mr. Anbazhagan’s both pleas — to assist the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the appeals and to submit written arguments as he was permitted by the Special Court during the trial.
Also, the Court refused to allow Dr. Swamy to implead himself in the appeal and present his arguments independently.
However, the Court said that Dr. Swamy can assist the SPP as per the Section 301 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and can file a written statement on seeking leave of the Court at a later stage.
Interestingly, Dr. Swamy had made it clear to the Court during his arguments that he wanted to argue independently and did not wish to assist the SPP.
While dismissing Mr. Anbazhagan’s pleas, the Court said that he could not demonstrate that a third party could be allowed to intervene in the appeal proceedings, before a High Court, arising out of a criminal trial.
Adverse impact feared
Justice Kumaraswamy also observed that allowing third parties to intervene would possibly have adverse impact on the proceedings while referring the differences of views between SPP G Bhavani Singh and Mr. Anbazhagan at the time of trial before the Special Court over various legal issues.
The judge also took note of Mr. Anbazhagan’s plea on appointment of Mr. Singh as SPP by the Tamil Nadu government pending for consideration before a division bench of the High Court.
The only point due to which Dr. Swamy was allowed to assist the SPP was that the criminal prosecution in the DA case was initially launched following a private complaint filed by Dr. Swamy in 1996 though the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption took over the case in 1997.
Karnataka HC rejects their pleas to be part of the proceedings of Jayalalithaa’s appeal
Published - February 06, 2015 12:00 am IST