The Delhi High Court has sought the response of the Central Bureau of Investigation on Congress MP Karti Chidambaram’s plea challenging corruption charges in the Chinese visa scam case. The Court refused to stay trial court proceedings, saying the trial should not be derailed, and directed the CBI to file its reply by February 12.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to clarify its stand on a petition filed by Congress MP Karti Chidambaram. The petition challenges the framing of corruption and criminal conspiracy charges against him in the alleged Chinese visa scam case.
The matter was heard by Justice Manoj Jain, who issued notice to the CBI and directed it to file a short reply or status report before the next date of hearing. The court fixed February 12 as the next date.
However, the High Court clearly refused to stay the ongoing proceedings before the trial court at this stage. The judge made it clear that the court was not inclined to interfere with the trial process while hearing the petition.
During the hearing, senior counsel appearing for the Lok Sabha MP from Sivaganga argued that the trial court had listed the case for February 4 even though, according to him, no case was made out against Karti Chidambaram. The counsel urged the High Court to grant interim relief and stay the trial court proceedings.
Responding to this submission, the court orally remarked,
“This can’t be stayed. We are of the view that we should not be staying the proceedings. Let us not derail the trial,”
clearly indicating that it was not inclined to halt the case at this stage.
The court thereafter directed,
“Let short reply/status report be filed before the next hearing on February 12,”
while issuing notice on Chidambaram’s application seeking interim relief.
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On behalf of the CBI, its counsel informed the High Court that the matter was listed before the trial court on February 4 only for certain procedural formalities and not for any substantive hearing.
With the High Court declining to stay the proceedings, the trial court is expected to continue with the scheduled procedural steps, while the CBI will place its response before the High Court on the next date of hearing.
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