Will lay down law on HCs revoking orders dictated in open courts: SC

The Supreme Court on Friday said it will lay down the law on the issue of high courts revoking orders dictated in open courts after the top court came across a case in which the Madras HC quashed a money laundering case against a former IPS officer and later modified its direction and reheard the matter.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih stayed the proceedings in a money laundering case against former IPS officer M S Jaffer Sait registered in connection with an alleged illegal allotment of a Tamil Nadu Housing Board plot.

The top court posted the matter for hearing on November 22.

The apex court was hearing a plea filed by Sait, who contended that his case was reheard within days after allowing his plea for quashing of the proceedings in the matter.

The SC bench had earlier sought report from from the Madras High Court's Registrar General on the issue.

On September 30, after inspecting the report from the HC, the top court had called the decision of the high court to re-hear the matter as 'absolutely wrong'.

A high court bench of Justices S M Subramaniam and V Sivagnanam had on August 21 quashed the proceedings against Sait on the grounds that the corruption case registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), which is the predicate offence for the ED case, has already been quashed by the high court.

Later, the order was revoked and the matter was reheard and judgment was reserved.

According to Sait, a complaint was made in 2011 accusing him of having gotten illegal allotment of Tamil Nadu Housing Board plots at Thiruvanmiyur in Chennai. Based on the complaint, the DVAC registered an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

On May 23, 2019, the high court quashed the FIR. Subsequently, on June 22, 2020, the ED registered an ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) based on the case registered by the DVAC.

However, the high court quashed the ED case on the basis of previous quashing of the predicate corruption case by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.