Jaya appeal: A well settled point of law will be debated again in Supreme Court

Chennai, Jan 25: The day to day hearing on the appeal filed by Karnataka in the J Jayalalithaa disproportionate assets is set to commence on February 2.

While the Karnataka government will stick to the appeal, the legal team for the Tamil Nadu chief minister may commence arguments by questioning Karnataka's locus standi (right) to file an appeal.

If Jayalalithaa's legal team decide to challenge the locus standi of Karnataka in filing the appeal, there is bound to be a hearing that may span over a week or two which ultimately will delay hearing the original appeal itself.

Karnataka has decided to distance itself from the statements made by Jayalalithaa recently in which she challenged the right of the state in filing an appeal.

A well settled point of law:

In the Karnataka legal department, the statements by Jayalalithaa have been seen as an attempt to delay the appeal.

It is a well settled point of law and has been dealt with by both the Supreme Court and the High Court in the past, Karnataka would contend.

It may be recalled that the issue had come up for hearing in the Karnataka High Court where the right of Karnataka to appoint a special public prosecutor had been challenged.

Moreover, it is also questioned as to why Jayalalithaa and three others convicted by the trial court had decided to challenge that decision before the Karnataka High Court.

Even when the appeal was being heard in the High Court, the special prosecutor B V Acharya who made written submissions was appointed by the Karnataka government.

Karnataka contends that the state appointing the special public prosecutor is automatically the prosecuting state and hence only it has the right to file an appeal.

Further an interpretation of the Code of Criminal Procedure also states that a special public prosecutor is appointed for a case and not for a court. Special Public Prosecutor of this case, B V Acharya that this issue has cropped up in the past as well.

It has been settled that it is Karnataka which has the powers to prosecute and also the Supreme Court too had given the state the powers to appoint the SPP, he also added.

Karnataka feels that there will be some amount of delay before arguments on the appeal would commence.

Karnataka in its appeal has pointed to several errors in the verdict of the High Court which acquitted Jayalalithaa and others. It has also argued that the SPP was not given any time to argue the case and instead had to file written submissions.

OneIndia News