A Single Bench of Justice Sunil Gaur today reserved judgment on the controversial National Herald newspaper case..The case saw summons being issued upon certain Congress leaders over a complaint made by Dr. Subramanian Swamy. .Swamy, in his complaint, had alleged cheating and misappropriation of funds by the leaders in the acquisition of the newspaper daily by Young Indian (YI)..The case saw Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appear for the Petitioners Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey and Motilal Vora, with a number of interesting turns along the way. Recently, due to the change in High Court roster, the case was posted for hearing before another Bench which was opposed by the Petitioners. Since it was part-heard, the case was finally transferred to Justice Gaur’s Bench..Today when the matter came up for hearing, Swamy submitted that this was a case of ‘betrayal of trust of the people worth 90 crores’ and that the Congress party ought to be made liable for unduly ‘benefitting’ from public funds..While the allegation of fraud has dominated the tenor of Swamy’s arguments, Sibal has reiterated the intention of the Gandhis to revive Young India Pvt Ltd. (YIL) through the loan of Rs 90 crores assigned by the party to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) for Rs. 50 lakh. AJL was the publisher of National Herald..Diffusing Swamy’s argument of the party having played fraud on the public, Sibal had previously reiterated that the acquisition of AJL, did not constitute any elements of misappropriation or breach of trust. Sibal claimed that this process was carried out within the knowledge of AJL’s shareholders and that instead of paying YIL, shares in the publication were given to YIL..Sibal had also argued that the funds loaned to AJL was out of the party’s donation fund and therefore, the party had the power to appropriate those funds as it so wished..After hearing arguments from both sides, including a number of irreverent potshots at each other, the Bench has finally reserved its judgment over the issue.
A Single Bench of Justice Sunil Gaur today reserved judgment on the controversial National Herald newspaper case..The case saw summons being issued upon certain Congress leaders over a complaint made by Dr. Subramanian Swamy. .Swamy, in his complaint, had alleged cheating and misappropriation of funds by the leaders in the acquisition of the newspaper daily by Young Indian (YI)..The case saw Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appear for the Petitioners Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey and Motilal Vora, with a number of interesting turns along the way. Recently, due to the change in High Court roster, the case was posted for hearing before another Bench which was opposed by the Petitioners. Since it was part-heard, the case was finally transferred to Justice Gaur’s Bench..Today when the matter came up for hearing, Swamy submitted that this was a case of ‘betrayal of trust of the people worth 90 crores’ and that the Congress party ought to be made liable for unduly ‘benefitting’ from public funds..While the allegation of fraud has dominated the tenor of Swamy’s arguments, Sibal has reiterated the intention of the Gandhis to revive Young India Pvt Ltd. (YIL) through the loan of Rs 90 crores assigned by the party to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) for Rs. 50 lakh. AJL was the publisher of National Herald..Diffusing Swamy’s argument of the party having played fraud on the public, Sibal had previously reiterated that the acquisition of AJL, did not constitute any elements of misappropriation or breach of trust. Sibal claimed that this process was carried out within the knowledge of AJL’s shareholders and that instead of paying YIL, shares in the publication were given to YIL..Sibal had also argued that the funds loaned to AJL was out of the party’s donation fund and therefore, the party had the power to appropriate those funds as it so wished..After hearing arguments from both sides, including a number of irreverent potshots at each other, the Bench has finally reserved its judgment over the issue.
