The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its order on a plea by an accused in the gutkha scam against the decision of the Madras High Court to transfer the case from the State Vigilance department to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi argued before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra that the April 26 decision of the Madras High Court to transfer the case to the CBI contradicted an earlier co-ordinate Bench order, which concluded that the case did not warrant a CBI investigation.
Mr. Rohatgi, appearing for the accused-petitioner, E. Sivakumar, a Health department official, argued that his client was not given an opportunity to be heard before the probe was transferred to the CBI.
‘No say in probe’
He said the petitions filed in the High Court were submitted at the instance of “political opponent” DMK MLA J. Anbazhagan and activist ‘Traffic’ K.R. Ramaswamy.
In his counter, senior advocate P. Wilson, appearing for the original petitioners, asked the court to pause for a moment to think about how a “Health department officer could have the services of a former Attorney General in the Supreme Court.” He argued that “an accused has no say over who should conduct the investigation.”
Mr. Sivakumar said the High Court had passed the order when the investigation relating to the allegations of violation of the ban on gutkha and other tobacco products by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) was at an “advanced stage”.
