BJP leader Subramanian Swamy moved the Supreme Court Tuesday, seeking a formal order from the court for allowing him to argue before the Karnataka High Court in the corruption case, being heard on an appeal by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Swamy told a bench led by Chief Justice H L Dattu that he was not allowed by the High Court to put forth his submissions despite the fact that he was the complainant in the case before the sessions court which had convicted Jayalalithaa for amassing assets disproportionate to her known sources of income. He also referred to a pertinent provision in the Prevention of Corruption Act and said a complainant in a corruption case could be treated as a deemed prosecutor. The bench however responded that it could not pass any direction unless there was a formal order from the Karnataka High Court into the matter. “You please go before the Karnataka High Court and get an order. We can look into it only after that,” said the bench, adding that it could not otherwise know as to what transpired before the High Court. On December 18, the court had extended Jayalalithaa’s bail by another four months in the case while asking the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court to constitute a special bench to decide the appeal against her conviction and four-year jail term preferably within three months. It had then also asked Jayalalithaa’s counsel to make available to Swamy copies of all the relevant documents of the case to Swamy.
