HC: Judge raises questions on loan in the Herald case

Justice Sunil Gaur of the Delhi High Court today raised some questions about the Congress party's action of assigning to a charitable company a debt of Rs 90.25 crore owed to it by the publishers of National Herald.
"It is not a mere commercial transaction. It has wider ramifications. How a political party behaves is everyone's concern. It is precisely an act of a political party which is under scanner here," the judge observed as he resumed hearing in the challenge filed by Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and some others against a trial court order in a complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.

The case came back to Justice Gaur's court after it was posted before another bench under the roster system. The Gandhis and others moved the High Court yesterday opposing a "different treatment" being meted out to the case in violation of the practice and procedures of the Court by transferring a part-heard matter.
The party had loaned Rs 90.25 crore to Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL) and on December 28, 2010 it had assigned this debt to Young Indian Ltd (YIL), the charitable company, for Rs 50 lakh, which, according to Swamy, amounted to breach of trust and cheating.
On his complaint, a trial court had issued summons to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul and five others, including YIL.

Justice Gaur made the observations while hearing arguments in the petitions filed by Sonia, Rahul, YIL and four others-Congress treasurer Moti Lal Vora, General Secretary Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda-challenging the summons issued by the trial judge.
The judge's observation came during arguments on the issue of whether Swamy had the locus to question the transaction of Congress party.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Sonia, argued that Swamy did not have a locus to file a complaint of breach of trust or cheating as he was not a victim.