BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court will hear the bail petition filed by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday after advocates moved the court seeking a special hearing.
Though the vacation bench of the court this morning adjourned the bail plea to October 6, lawyers for Jayalalithaa headed by Ram Jethmalani approached the Court Registrar for an urgent hearing in the matter. Chief Justice D H Waghela then allowed the plea, following which the court decided hear the former chief minister’s application on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the AIADMK supremo had moved an appeal challenging the order of the lower court convicting her in a disproportionate assets case. In the petitions seeking immediate bail and challenging the sentence, Jayalalithaa maintained that the charges of amassing wealth against her were false and that she had acquired property through legal means. Jethmalani pleaded that the appeal and bail plea be heard.
However, G Bhavani Singh, who was the Special Public Prosecutor in the special court in the assets case, told the judge that he had not yet received any official notification appointing him as the SPP for the criminal appeal filed in the High Court.
“I have read a report appearing in a daily about my appointment as the SPP to handle the case, but I haven’t received any official notification appointing me as the SPP,” he said. Since he hasn’t received the notification, he was not authorised to represent the case, Singh contended and sought more time at which point the vacation bench of Justice Rathnakala posted the matter for October 6. In the afternoon, advocates representing Jayalalithaa moved an application before the HC registrar-general for advancing the hearing. The registrar-general, with permission of Chief Justice D H Waghela, scheduled the hearing on Wednesday.