Supreme Court judges vary on appeal in Jaya disproportionate assets case

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On Wednesday in another twist to the nearly 20-year-old corruption case involving former Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa, the Supreme Court delivered a split verdict after two judges vary on the legality of her appeal proceedings in the Karnataka High Court.

As a consequence, the Chief Justice of India will have to set up a three-judge bench to adjudge the dispute. The high court, which has already reserved its judgment in the matter, had been waiting for a final word of the apex court on the validity of the proceedings before it.

However, a bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and R Banumathi failed to reunite their views on whether appearance of a special public prosecutor, who was appointed to conduct trial, was also authorized to declare in the appeal in Karnataka High Court.

Jayalalithaa had challenged her conviction and four-year jail term in a case of assembled assets disproportionate to her known sources of income during 1996-97. She was held guilty by a special court in Karnataka, where the matter had been transferred by the top court to ensure a free and fair trial. Bhavani Singh was appointed as the special prosecutor. However, when Singh appeared in the high court during appeal, DMK leader K Anbazhagan, who is one of the complainants in the case, challenged Singh’s continuation and moved the apex court.

Writing a dissenting judgment, Justice Lokur said Singh’s appointment was limited for trial and his continuation in the high court, without any fresh notification of his appointment by the Karnataka government, vitiated the proceedings. He said that the appeal required to be heard afresh since Singh was not authorized to represent the prosecution in the appeal. Justice Lokur directed the Karnataka government to appoint a new prosecutor. He also described this case as a “classic illustration of what is wrong with our criminal justice delivery system.” It was either a reflection on the role that power and influence can play in criminal justice delivery or an extremely unfortunate situation that a criminal trial should take more than 15 years to conclude, he said.

But the other judge on the bench, Justice Banumathi held Singh’s continuation valid. She underlined that a special prosecutor, who is in charge of a case, can appear and plead without any written authority in any court of criminal jurisdiction in which such case is under inquiry, trial or appeal. “In my view there is no limitation either on territory or hierarchy of courts. There is no merit in the contention that the authority of special prosecutor ends with the conclusion of the trial and disposal of a case. Special prosecutor is not attached to a particular court or local area, but he is attached to the ‘case’ or ‘class of cases’,” she said.