No relief for Maran brothers from Supreme Court; Battery of Seniors appear

A total of six Senior Advocates including three for the Maran brothers, Dayanidhi and Kalanithi (Petitioners), appeared before the Supreme Court today in a petition challenging the summons issued to them by the Special Court trying the 2G cases. The summons orders were issued in the case pertaining to the Aircel-Maxis deal..A Division Bench comprising Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice R Banumathi refused relief, restored its order passed on Friday last week and also clarified that the Petitioners will not have the liberty to approach any High Court..Senior Advocates Aryama Sundaram, Shekhar Naphade and L Nageswara Rao appeared for the Maran brothers. Senior Advocate KK Venugopal and Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Pinky Anand represented the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Senior Advocate Anand Grover, the Court appointed Special Public Prosecutor in the cases related to the 2G scam, was also present for the hearing..When the matter was taken up on Friday last week, the Court had initially refused relief and granted liberty to the Petitioners to approach “an appropriate forum”. Subsequently, on mentioning by ASG Pinky Anand, the Court had recalled its order and directed the Registry to place the matters before the Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India..However, it later came to the notice of the Court that the matter was listed before the Bench presided by Justice Gopala Gowda “as per the subject category allocated to this Bench after taking directions of Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India.” Therefore, it was directed that the matter be placed before the same Bench on February 9 for appropriate orders..When the matter came up for hearing today, the Bench was inclined to restore the order passed on February 6. KK Venugopal, however, submitted that the order of February 6 had granted liberty to the Petitioners to approach any “appropriate forum” and it could be construed as granting liberty to the Petitioners to approach the High Court. He contended that this would be contrary to the judgment of the Supreme Court as per which all cases related to 2G scam can be taken up by the Supreme Court alone..Senior Advocates Aryama Sundaram and Shekhar Naphade vociferously argued that the case is not a case related to 2G scam..Sundaram submitted that the case had been unearthed during the course of investigation of the 2G scam and that it was not related to the 122 cancelled licenses falling under the ambit of the Supreme Court judgment in the 2G scam. He argued that the Supreme Court should either hear the matter and decide on whether it is a 2G case or not or grant the Petitioners the liberty to approach the High Court..“I cannot be put in a unique situation where I cannot go to the High Court or the Supreme Court”, he said..The Court, however, turned down the request, restored its order of February 6 and also clarified that the Petitioners will not have the liberty to approach any High Court” and can only move the Special Court trying the 2G cases at the first instance. The Court also orally clarified that the Petitioners will have the liberty to approach the Supreme Court, if denied relief by the Special Court.