2G case: SC to hear plea of accused on Thursday

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir accepted the plea for early hearing after senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Balwa, said that all the defects in the petition have been removed.

The accused have sought staying of the April 11, 2011 and November 9, 2012 orders of a special bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi which had directed that no court other than the apex court shall entertain any application relating to the case.

They have submitted that the orders of the two-judge bench, which is monitoring the probe into the 2G case, violates the fundamental and constitutional rights of the accused and were without jurisdiction.

They have also questioned the authority of the bench for monitoring developments in the case after filing of the charge sheets contending that it was against the guidelines of the apex court which had clearly stated that the monitoring of the case comes to an end with filing of the charge sheet.

Besides Balwa, others who have approached the apex court are Vinod Goenka, promoter of Swan Telecom, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal (both directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd).

Aggrieved by the orders, they have sought framing of fresh guidelines to be followed by Constitutional courts in relation to monitoring of criminal investigation and other facets of such probe and for a direction that since the trial in the case has already started there should be no further supervision by the apex court.