SC declines to advance hearing of Jayalalithaa case

The Supreme Court Thursday declined the plea of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J.Jayalalithaa to advance the hearing on the compliance of conditions it imposed on her and three other convicted peoplewhile granting them bail Oct 17 in a corruption case.

Declining the plea by senior counsel Fali Nariman, a bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice A.K.Sikri said that the matter would be taken upon Dec 18 when it is listed to be heard.

Nariman said that Jayalalithaa's appeal and other related papers would be given to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy who told the court that he was opposing her plea challenging her conviction and sentencing before the high court sought the papers.

A trial court in Bangalore convicted Jayalalithaa Sep 27 for possessing assets disproportionate to her known sources of income and sentenced her to four jail term and Rs.100 crore fine. The case, which went on for about 18 years, related to the period 1991-1996 when she became chief minister of Tamil Nadu for the first time and involved Rs.66.65 crore.

The Karnataka High Court had Oct 7 declined bail to Jayalalithaa and the three others in the case.

The plea for advancing the hearing was made by Nariman who told the court that Jayalalithaa has already filed the appeal before the high court along with all the duly-translated documents running into 173 volumes - a condition that the apex court had imposed while granting bail to Jayalalithaa and three others.

While granting bail to Jayalalithaa, N.Sasikala, V.N. Sudhakaran, and J. Elasvarasi Oct 17, the apex court had said that they would complete their appeal with all relevant documents before the high court in a matter of two months and, thereafter, it will ask the high court to expedite and complete the hearing on the appeal within three months.

Listing the matter Dec 18, the apex court had then said if they don't file their appeal along with documents in the high court in this period, then "you will not get the liberty of a day more".