Repeated adjournments in Mayawati DA case irk SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday expressed annoyance at the repeated adjournments sought by both the CBI and UP chief minister Mayawati virtually stalling the hearing of her writ petition seeking quashing of the DA case instituted by the agency.

Since the apex court granted interim stay on the filing of chargesheet against Mayawati two years ago, there had been rarely any meaningful hearing on the petition though both sides have traded charges when the political equations between the Centre and BSP were sour and acted coy when the Centre was in need of help from Mayawati’s party to rescue it from a sticky situation.

And this was reflected amply when CBI counsel T A Khan sought six weeks time from a Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar to respond to Mayawati’s latest application appealing to the court to direct the Centre to treat her on a par with RJD chief Lalu Prasad while pointing out how her case was identical to that of the supremo of the UPA ally.

During the last hearing, Mayawati had sought time to respond to CBI’s affidavit saying Prasad’s case was on a very different footing than her’s and had sought permission to file chargesheet against her. Irked by this ping-pong game of adjournment adopted by both sides, the Bench in frustration said: “If both of you are together, then let the matter go. Everytime you file an application , they seek time and we have to adjourn the matter.”

Though it gave six weeks time to the CBI to file response to Mayawati’s latest application, the Bench made it clear — no more adjournments.