From 2G to SEBI Sahara: Harish Salve for and against Subrata Roy

When the hearing in Sebi Sahara dispute in the Supreme Court commenced on Wednesday, people in the courtroom were in for a surprise. Senior Advocate Harish Salve was seen seated in the front row alongside Senior Advocate KTS Tulsi..Salve has finally been engaged in the Sahara matter that has seen nearly thirteen senior lawyers defending the business empire and its Directors before the Supreme Court..What is most interesting is the fact that Salve, who is now trying to get Subrata Roy out of jail, had appeared for the Central Bureau of Investigation against Roy sometime back. Interestingly, that case was also a contempt petition against Roy for interfering in the functioning of the Deputy Director of the Enforcement Directorate conducting the 2G probe. The matter is still pending in the Supreme Court..It seems that Roy has run out of options and had to go to Salve, the very same person who had argued that Roy should be punished for contempt in the 2G matter. Salve would now be exploring means to get Roy out of jail..From 2G to Sebi Sahara, a lot seems to have changed for Roy. Thirteen senior advocates were engaged in the Sahara case; two left the brief midway while one was replaced. In the meanwhile, Roy seemed to mock the inability of the Supreme Court to implement its own order and soon found himself in Tihar jail under “judicial custody.”.After Senior Advocates Rajeev Dhavan and Ram Jethmalani antagonised the judges hearing the matter, Roy and Sahara seemed to have learned a thing or two about the Supreme Court – that the Court wields a power that is nearly unparalleled and that if you treat the Supreme Court like any other petty institution, you do so at your own peril. As Justice Radhakrishnan remarked, “the arms of this court are very long”; which Roy might have realized by now..Whether the shift from “confrontational lawyers” to lawyers who are known to be extremely persuasive will help Sahara or not remains to be seen. .Image Courtesy:.Harish Salve .Subrata Roy