UPA government seeks review of Supreme Court order on black money

NEW DELHI: In a last ditch effort to stall setting up of an SIT to monitor all black money cases as directed by the Supreme Court, UPA government today sought review of its judgements constituting the panel under its former judge M B Shah.

The Centre, which is at end of the tenure, pleaded before a bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan to give an urgent hearing on its review plea.

The bench, also comprising Justice A K Sikri, however, refused to hear the case, saying that it cannot sit over a judgement delivered by another bench.

The bench asked Additional Solicitor General Siddharth Luthra to approach Supreme Court Registrar who can consult with the judges who had passed the order and if the judges agree then matter could be listed.

"How can we sit over the judgement of the other bench. The judges are available during the vacation so you talk to the Registrar. Proper procedure is to talk with Registrar and then matter could be listed," the bench said.

Advocate Sandeep Kapoor, appearing for Ram Jethmalani who is the petitioner in the case, opposed Centre's plea.

The apex court on May 1 directed the Centre to handover within three days all documents and information collected by it in its probe in the cases of alleged stashing of black money in LST bank in Liechtenstein, Germany, to Jethmalani and others who raised the issue before it.

It had also appointed its retired judges M B Shah as the Chairman and Arijit Pasayat as the Vice Chairman of the Special Investigating Team (SIT) for providing guidance and direction in the investigation of all cases of black money in the country and abroad.

Justice Shah, who was earlier appointed as Vice Chairman by July 4, 2011 order will take place of former apex court judge B P Jeevan Reddy who expressed his inability to continue as Chairman due to personal reasons.

The bench directed the Centre to issue notification regarding their appointment within three weeks.