J Jayalalithaa's Bail Extended by Supreme Court Friday April 17,2015

The Supreme Court on Friday extended the bail granted to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and four other accused till the Karnataka High Court disposes off their appeals against conviction in a disproportionate assets case

This means that the High Court will have to wait till a newly-formed three-judge bench of the Supreme Court first gives a final decision on the question whether the entire appeal proceedings held in the past three months was vitiated due to the presence of Special Public Prosecutor Bhavani Singh. 

Hearing the plea by accused persons for extension of bail, a bench led by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu agreed to the Karnataka High Court's plea for more time to dispose the appeals. The bench gave time till May 12, 2015.

So, if the three-judge bench agrees with Justice Banumathi that Mr. Singh had authority, the judgment on the appeal, which is already reserved, can be given soon, possibly by May 12.

On the other hand, if the three judge bench agrees with Justice Lokur, the entire appeals would have to be re-heard, and this would take another three to four months.

In such a case, the CJI has given the High Court liberty to approach the Supreme Court again for more time.

Friday's hearing comes after the apex court's extension of bail of Ms. Jayalalithaa and the other three accused in the case -- Sasikala, Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran -- till April 18, 2015.

The three judge bench was formed by the Supreme Court only on Thursday after a bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and R. Banumathi delivered a split verdict on DMK leader K. Anbazhagan's plea to remove Mr. Singh. 

Justice Lokur held Mr. Singh had no authority to appear as prosecutor and the appeal proceedings were vitiated. Justice Lokur held that the appeals have to be heard afresh. 

But Justice Banumathi had differed, holding that the appeal proceedings were in the right as Mr. Singh did have authority. 

Now, it is up to the three-judge bench to decide on whether it should agree with Justice Lokur or Justice Banumathi. 

The hearing on this reference is scheduled to start on April 21, 2015

Note

 

Jayalalithaa was sentenced to four years in prison by a trial court in Bangalore that found her guilty of collecting illegal assets worth Rs. 66 crores in Sep 2014

Jayalalithaa was granted bail for six months in October 2014 and the Supreme Court today extended it.

Jayalalithaa's appeal against that verdict is being heard by the Karnataka High Court.