BENGALURU: The special vacation bench of Justice Rathnakala, constituted to take up the bail pleas of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa and three others, lodged in the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison after the conviction and sentencing by a special court in a disproportionate assets case, adjourned the cases and posted them for hearing on October 7, Tuesday, before the regular bench.
The High Court initially listed the criminal appeals for hearing for October 6, Monday, before the bench of Justice A.V. Chandrashekara. Since Monday has been declared a holiday for Bakrid, the appeals are most likely to be taken up the next day. The special vacation bench mentioned in its order that if Monday was declared a holiday, the case should be listed for October 7.
The advocates representing Ms Jayalalithaa and the three other convicts said that the special vacation bench was constituted only to take up the bail pleas.
“Following our plea for urgent hearing of the appeals, the High Court had constituted the special vacation bench. But the bench, which sat for a few minutes, was of the opinion that a regular bench should deal with the pleas. When Mr Bhavani Singh (Special Public Prosecutor) submitted to the court that he was ready with the statement of objections, the judge ordered that the case should be posted before the regular bench without even hearing us,” the advocates said.
