Shahid Balwa, other 2G accused move SC bench

Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa, his brother Asif, Vinod Goenka and Rajiv Agarwal of DB Realty, yesterday moved a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, against the stay imposed by the apex court's 2G bench on the Delhi High Court's right to quash charges against them.
 
The four are facing charges of paying bribes under the guise of corporate loans to Kalaignar TV during former telecom minister A Raja's tenure. They are also seeking directions from the three-judge bench to the two-judge 2G bench to stop monitoring the case as chargesheets had already been filed in the case.
 
The petition sought intervention of the bench, that comprises Justices SS Nijjar and J Chelameswar, on the order of the 2G bench on 9 November 2012.

The bench would see the file, justice Kabir observed responding to senior counsels Ram Jethmalani and Dr Rajeev Dhavan raising the issue in the morning.
Jethmalani contended that the court could not take away the High Court's power under Article 226 of the constitution.

According to the counsel, the orders of the two-judge bench, which was monitoring the probe into the 2G case, violated the fundamental and constitutional rights of the accused and were without jurisdiction.

Aggrieved by the orders, the accused have sought framing of fresh guidelines in relation to monitoring of criminal investigation and other facets of such probe.

As they sought directions for setting aside of the order, they submitted that the directions were bad in law as they had been passed without giving them a chance to be be heard, which directly impinged upon their constitutional rights.
 
"The orders passed by the special bench of this court could not have abridged the hierarchy of courts and that all proceedings have to be conducted in accordance with law. The hierarchy of courts remains unfettered, unhindered and unaffected by the above-said direction," the petition said.