The Supreme Court today said G Bhawani Singh, who has been sacked as Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, was appointed without any objection by the Karnataka Government to conduct the trial.
The apex court, which examined the records relating to the controversy surrounding the appointment and sacking of Singh as SPP at the fag end of the 17-year-old case, said though his name was not in the original list of four senior lawyers recommended for the job, the then acting-Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court recommended him, the fifth candidate, which was accepted without any objection.
"We were searching whether Karnataka Government had any objection and whether consultation required under the law was there or not. We did not find that any objection was raised, rather his remuneration was fixed much higher. We thought that only lawyers in Delhi charge more. He (Bhawani Singh) was getting high fee," a bench comprising justices B S Chauhan and S A Bobde observed.
The remarks were made after Jayalalithaa's lawyer Shekhar Naphade said, "We don't know what are the reasons you have searched" on the appointment and subsequent withdrawal of Singh as SPP.
The court on September 20 had called for entire record relating to the controversy surrounding the appointment and sacking of Singh for its perusal to ascertain the reasons to drop him from conducting the proceedings.
Jayalalithaa had criticised in the apex court the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court for allegedly toeing the line of state government and had agreed to go through the entire record on the issue of SPP in the case.
Naphade alleged that removal of Singh when the criminal procedure in the case was at the final stage was done with a political motive.
"It has been done to keep the pot boiling till the election for 2014," he said.... The aim has been to delay the proceedings as the judge trying the case is going to retire on September 30," he said.
