DMK appeal in Jayalalithaa case; HC Chief Justice recuses himself

BENGALURU: Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court D H Waghela today recused himself from hearing DMK General Secretary K Anbazhagan's appeal against rejection of his plea for discontinuation of Bhavani Singh as SPP in the disproportionate assets case against AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa.

The Chief Justice recused himself after Special Public Prosecutor Bhavani Singh's counsel filed a memo stating that he (Justice Waghela) had in 2014 given consent to Karnataka government for removing Singh from the post.

In his appeal, the DMK leader prayed that the high court call for records and set aside the recent order of Justice Anand Byrareddy rejecting his plea seeking discontinuation of Bhavani Singh as the Special Public Prosecutor.

Justice Byrareddy had directed Anbazhagan and Karnataka government to approach the Supreme Court for clarification on the issue of procedure of the appointment of the SPP as it was improper for him to interpret its order while granting bail to Jayalalithaa.

Challenging this, Anbazhagan filed the appeal which is being heared by a division bench comprising Justice Waghela and Justice Ashok B Hinchigeri since yesterday.

During the resumed hearing today, Sebastian, Singh's counsel, submitted before the bench that the Chief Justice had in 2014 given consent to Karnataka government for removing Singh from SPP's post.

However, Singh moved the Supreme Court and succeeded in getting a verdict in his favour as the apex court set aside Karnataka govermment's decision, he said.

In this backdrop, Sebastian has filed a memo for recusal of Justice Waghela.

On October 17 last, a Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu, had ordered that the hearing in the High Court on the appeal, filed by Jayalalithaa challenging her conviction and sentence in the case, be conducted on a day-to-day basis and completed in three months from December 18.

The order was passed while granting conditional bail to Jayalalithaa who, along with three others, was sentenced to four years jail term by a special court for allegedly amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income during 1991-96 when she was the chief minister for the first time.