Bofors case: Supreme Court does a big flip-flop

In a dramatic change in its attitude to the Bofors case, the Supreme Court today expressed surprise at the fact that the Hinduja brothers ar...

In a dramatic change in its attitude to the Bofors case, the Supreme Court today expressed surprise at the fact that the Hinduja brothers are being tried despite a High Court order quashing the chargesheet against them.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India G B Pattanaik wondered how the trial judge, Prem Kumar, could frame charges against the Hindujas when an appeal filed by the CBI against the High Court judgement of June 10 is still pending.

This is in sharp contrast to the view taken by Pattanaik’s predecessor, Justice B N Kirpal, who barely four months ago found the High Court judgement ‘‘so completely unsustainable’’ that he stayed that order without even waiting for the Hindujas’ reply.

Justice R S Sodhi of the High Court had quashed the chargesheet on the basis of his controversial interpretation of the hawala case judgement saying that the CBI could not act against anybody without taking the consent of the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).

Outraged by this verdict, a bench headed by Kirpal ordered in July that ‘‘all proceedings before the trial court should go on’’ and observed that ‘‘if such judgements are not stayed, no prosecution will succeed.’’ But today when senior advocate Ram Jethmalani sought an early hearing of the CBI appeal against the high court order, another three-judge bench headed by Pattanaik said that staying the high court order and allowing the trial to continue ‘‘amounted to allowing the appeal right at the initial stage.’’ On the request of the CBI counsel, A D N Rao, the apex court put off passing any order and agreed to hear the matter in detail on Monday.