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A Delhi court on Friday refused permission to jailed former Telecom Minister A Raja to visit and assist his lawyers in the Supreme Court during hearings in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, saying enough time was being granted to him for legal consultations.
"I do not find any merit in the application and the same is dismissed," Special Central Bureau of Investigation Judge O P Sani said and gave three reasons for not allowing the plea of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader.
The court, in its five-page order, said it did not receive any "requisition" from the apex court that Raja be produced before it, and moreover, all 14 accused are being allowed to have legal consultations with their lawyers.
The accused has no right to be heard when the matter is still "pending investigation", it said adding the plea of Raja that he was unable to brief his counsel was untenable.
"First, the aforesaid matter is pending before the SC. No requisition has been received from the Supreme Court regarding his production... As such, the accused could not be allowed to go to the Supreme Court in person without any direction.
Furthermore, if the accused requires his presence before any court, he must move the court concerned not this court. "Secondly, on every date, the accused is allowed half-an-hour or more than an hour of consultation time with his advocate in the courtroom itself and that concession he is availing every day as the trial is proceeding on a day-to-day basis. As such, the accused cannot be heard to say that he is unable to brief his counsel...," it said.
Earlier, Raja moved the plea seeking permission to attend proceedings in the Supreme Court on October 10 "to place submission through the counsel to elucidate correct facts to explain sequence of events which happened in 2007-2008 in a better manner."