NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has issued a notice to Bihar chief minister Nitish to explain why he should not remain a party to the copyright violation case.
A bench headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman issued the notice to Nitish, seeking his response on a petition filed by former senior Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) scholar-turned-politician Atul Kumar Singh. Singh had contested Lok Sabha elections from Chapra constituency in 2004 as an independent candidate.
The court also stayed an interim order by the Delhi High Court, which had given liberty to Kumar to reopen his case for deletion of his name as a party.
In his petition before the Delhi high court, Singh has alleged that a book published by Patna-based Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) through its Member Secretary Shaibal Gupta and "endorsed" by the Bihar CM, was a plagiarised version of his research project, 'Role of State in Economic Transformation: A case Study of Contemporary Bihar' of 2006.
Singh has sought damages of Rs 25 lakh from the defendants, including Nitish, Shaibal Gupta, the ADRI, and its sister concern - Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance.
Kumar's plea was rejected by Delhi High Court with cost of Rs 20,000. Singh then moved the Supreme Court in an appeal against the high court and questioned why the High Court had to reopen this issue when Nitish himself had not appealed against the order. Supreme Court is likely to take up this case next on July 6.