Samata Party former chief Jaya Jaitley on Monday moved a court here seeking permission to permanently retain her passport.
Facing trial in a bribery case involving a purported defence deal, Jaitley sought release of her passport permanently on the grounds that she needed it often to visit abroad to attend panel discussions on various issues.
The plea was filed before Special CBI Judge Kanwaljeet Arora by Jaitley’s counsel, while submitting her passport to the court.
Jaitley just returned from a 10-day Singapore trip, where she attended a panel debate on ‘Smith women leading change: Asia 2012’.
She had earlier sought the court’s permission to attend the event.
Taking up Jaitley’s plea, the court has directed the CBI to file its reply on her plea before July 12.
The counsel then told the court that Jaitley is a social activist and had been granted such permissions earlier also and she has never misused the relief.
“If she be allowed to retain her passport permanently, she will not seek any adjournment on account of her unavailability,” the counsel said, adding that his client would not leave the country without court’s permission.
Jaitley is facing trial for allegedly receiving `2 lakh as bribe for recommending a defence deal involving a fictitious company -- a part of a sting operation by newsportal Tehelka -- to the Defence Ministry almost 12 years ago.