{"id":169381,"date":"2021-05-24T13:25:35","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T07:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/?p=169381"},"modified":"2021-11-16T19:23:27","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T13:53:27","slug":"gali-janardhana-reddy-plea-cji","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/constitutional-law-news\/supreme-court-news\/gali-janardhana-reddy-plea-cji\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court directs Gali Janardhana Reddy plea to be listed before CJI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Supreme Court<\/a><\/strong> bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and M.R. Shah today directed the plea of former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy for relaxation of his bail condition to be listed before the Chief Justice bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bench said that this matter was heard by Justice RS Reddy and the problem is that he is unavailable because the vacation has started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared on behalf of the former Karnataka minister and prayed that the matter be listed before the Chief Justice during the vacation. ASG Madhavi Divan appeared on behalf of the state of Karnataka and submitted: \u201c This is a way of applicant to get in to Bellary and temper the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plea by filed by former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, sought relaxation of his bail condition and allow him to stay in his native Ballari district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the earlier proceedings, The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that the mining baron was at the centre of \u201cone of the most notorious mining scams\u201d of the country and his return to Ballari would spell disaster for the trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan heard senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi counter the CBI for Reddy, saying the blame for the agency\u2019s inefficiency to complete a trial within time could not be put on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe trial may take a lifetime the way it\u2019s going. You (CBI) cannot blame me. Am I guilty for the six-year delay in the trial? Am I to suffer externment from Ballari forever?\u201d Mr. Rohatgi asked.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Additional Solicitor General Madhavi Divan, for the CBI, said Reddy was given bail in the case in 2015 on the express condition that he would not enter Ballari. \u201cDoing away with this condition would mean doing away with all conditions of the bail,\u201d Divan argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divan said Reddy was a \u201cpowerful man\u201d. There were threats on the lives and property of the witnesses, many of whom live in Ballari and some of whom are public servants. She said Reddy\u2019s presence in Ballari would turn them hostile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith great difficulty, we have been able to persuade them to testify. His (Reddy\u2019s) presence in Ballari permanently may have an adverse effect on them,\u201d Ms. Divan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law officer said the delay in trial was entirely due to the accused persons \u201ccrowding the docket\u201d of the trial court by filing petitions, one after the other, \u201clike a relay race\u201d, to discharge and quash the case against them for one reason or the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Cat-and-mouse game\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have been playing a cat-and-mouse game by filing discharge after discharge petitions\u2026 The tactics of the accused have been the cause for the delay in trial\u2026 Now, he cannot turn around and make it into a virtue and seek relaxation of bail condition. This is an attempt to jettison the trial\u2026 Please allow the trial to proceed,\u201d Ms. Divan argued.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Rohatgi countered that the agency\u2019s version of him trying to delay the trial was a \u201ccock-and-bull story\u201d. He said his client could not remain \u201cexpelled\u201d from Ballari while the trial continued to be a non-starter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read Also: Migrant labourers\u2019 issue: Supreme Court says it is not happy with steps taken by Centre<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are 300 witnesses and the trial has not begun,\u201d Mr. Rohatgi exclaimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divan said Reddy had been allowed to travel to Ballari to attend family functions in the past. The Bench reserved the case for orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: ILNS<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan heard senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi counter the CBI for Reddy, saying the blame for the agency\u2019s inefficiency to complete a trial within time could not be put on him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[246,64],"tags":[40,1402,54835,2014,20232],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/d2r2ijn7njrktv.cloudfront.net\/IL\/uploads\/2021\/05\/24131712\/reddy.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}