NEW DELHI: Justice SV Bhatti of the Supreme Court on Tuesday recused from considering the Andhra Pradesh government’s plea seeking transfer of plea related to the case against Margadarsi Chit Fund Private Limited (MCFPL) pending in the Telangana High Court to the Andhra Pradesh HC.
The plea on Tuesday was listed before the bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and SV Bhatti. Notably, a vacation bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal had earlier issued a notice but turned down the state government’s request to grant interim relief. “We’re not passing any interim order… we’ll hear out the matter,” the bench observed.
Seeking transfer, the state government, in the plea, said, “The cause of action arises/the situs of the offences is in Andhra Pradesh, and thus, it is only the High Court of AP, which will have jurisdiction over these matters, and no other High Court, including the Telangana HC. The mere fact that the corporate office of MCFPL is in Hyderabad, would not confer any jurisdiction, whatsoever, on the Telangana High Court.”
The AP government had contended that even if it is held that a small part of the cause of action may arise in Telangana because of the location of the MCFPL registered office, the vast majority of cause of action arises in AP since the investigations are being undertaken by AP police and AP authorities under the Chit Fund Act. “The largest number of subscribers to MCFPL chits are located in AP,” the plea said.