National Herald case: Relief for Sonia, Rahul Gandhi; Delhi HC sets aside trial court order

Granting to relief to Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case, the Delhi High Court has set aside the trial court’s order, seeking financial documents from the government and the accused, which the Congress party had dubbed as “personal documents.”

National Herald case: Delhi HC sets aside trial court order summoning docs from Min. of Finance&Corporate Affairs&other agencies for 2010-11

— ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2016

Justice P S Teji set aside the trial court’s 11 January and 11 March orders saying they were “passed in a casual manner”, “without application of mind” and were “non-speaking” which makes the two decisions “ineffective, redundant and not sustainable in the eye of law and liable to be set aside”. [caption id=“attachment_2334766” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] “The facts and circumstances mentioned above, non-issuance of notice to the opposite side and impugned orders being non-speaking and without due application of mind as per the law laid down by the Apex Court, culminates into the impugned orders as ineffective, redundant and not sustainable in eye of law and liable to be set aside,” the court said. However, the court did not rule out the possibility of fresh application seeking the documents. The high court, in its verdict, also said “undisputedly, the complainant (Swamy) always has the right to invoke provisions of section 91 of Cr PC and court is always empowered to pass an order in the facts and circumstances of the case, keeping in view the necessity and desirability of document in situations as discussed above and by granting an opportunity of hearing to the other party.” BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had approached a  Delhi trial on 1 March seeking financial details from the Congress party and various government agencies from 2010-11. He had sought balance sheets, receipts, income and expenditure statements and several other details from the Congress, Associated Journals Pvt Ltd (AJL),  and Young India Pvt. Ltd. The trial court had given its nod to the plea on 11 May, which the Congress leaders, including the Gandhis had challenged in the Delhi High Court on 4 April. The Congress leaders accused in the case had challenged the court order on the grounds that the trial court had failed to summon the Congress leaders to contest the plea summon the documents, according to The Indian Express. However, Sonia and Rahul had not moved the high court against summoning of the documents and balance sheet. Upholding the Congress party’s argument, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday said, “In view of the above discussion and law laid down, as referred above, this court is of the considered opinion that while the passing order under section 91 of CrPC for summoning the documents, if the other party has already joined the proceedings, it is entitled to be heard.” Arguing on behalf of the Congress party, senior advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, said that the documents sought were irrelevant to the case and can be misused as a launchpad for leveling other allegations. There is “no application of mind” in this order, Singhvi has said. Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes (AICC General Secretary), Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda were summoned for the alleged offences under sections 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) read with section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. Swamy had accused Sonia, Rahul and others of conspiring to cheat by just paying Rs 50 lakh by which Young India Pvt. Ltd. obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore which the AJL had owed to the Congress. With PTI inputs