Narada Case- Supreme Court To Hear Pleas Of WB Govt, CM Mamata Banerjee And State Law Minister On June 25; Calcutta HC Urged To Defer Hearing Till Then

The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned to Friday hearing on the appeals filed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, State of West Bengal, and the State Law Minister Moloy Ghatak, against a 9th June order of the Calcutta High Court wherein it had refused to take on record the Affidavits filed by them in the CBI's transfer plea in the Narada Scam case. A Bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari stated that as they were yet to peruse the files, the matter would be adjourned to Friday, June 25. The order of the Bench headed by Justice Hemant Gupta on 18th June, pertaining to the Calcutta High Court being requested to not take up the matter before the instant pleas are heard, has also been extended to June 25. "The Supreme Court had noted earlier on June 18 that the High Court may not take up the matter on 21 and 22. Since the matter could not be taken up today, we hope the High Court will not take up the matter on any date prior to the 25th", stated the Court. The Court further enquired from the Counsels present, i.e. Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, and Senior Advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Vikas Singh, whether the arguments would be concluded on Friday, to which they responded in affirmative. Earlier today, Justice Aniruddha Bose had recused from hearing the matter, and accordingly, directions were given for the petitions to be listed before a different Bench during the course of the day. It was then listed before the Bench headed by Justice Saran. The impugned 9th June order of the Calcutta High Court observed that the Chief Minister, Law Minister and the State had "waited for the arguments in the case to be substantially completed before seeking to place on record their pleadings in response…It is nothing else but filling the lacunae or supporting the accused. That is why, even the learned Counsels appearing for the accused are also supporting the prayer made by the State for taking these belated affidavits on record". It was further noted by the High Court that, "The Respondents have taken a calculated risk in not filing their affidavits at the right time, now they cannot be allowed to do so at their own whims and fancies, whenever they wish to do the same. Urgency of the matter could be appreciated on behalf of the accused, who were in custody but it cannot apparently be on behalf of the State, hence, if the State or other persons impleaded by the CBI wanted to file their response, time could have been sought at that time and not when the arguments are at an advanced stage".The pleas filed before the Supreme Court submit that rights of the State should not be hampered, especially when the CBI was allowed to file additional affidavits. This was also argued by Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Law Minister, who submitted that it was a question of justice, and that if the affidavit was ignored, the interests of justice would not be served. However, Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta had objected to the affidavits being taken on record in light of the arguments being completed. While the Supreme Court had earlier heard the petitions filed by the State and the State Law Minister, a new petition on the same issued has been filed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as well. The matter will now be heard on June 25th.

Narada Case- Supreme Court To Hear Pleas Of WB Govt, CM Mamata Banerjee And State Law Minister On June 25; Calcutta HC Urged To Defer Hearing Till Then

Radhika Roy

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