The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday decided to hear the bail application of AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Wednesday morning, hours after the hearing was adjourned to next week.
When the matter was first taken up by a vacation bench in the forenoon, G. Bhavani Singh, the Special Public Prosecutor in the trial court, told Justice Rathnakala that as there was no official communication that he had been appointed prosecutor in the appeal too, it would not be proper for him to represent the State.
The judge said as representation on the prosecution side was necessary, the matter could wait for the appointment of a prosecutor.
She then adjourned the application to Monday next, even as Ms. Jayalalithaa’s lawyers submitted that a prosecutor’s presence was not necessary as the trial court sentence was less than 10 years.
The judge observed that Ms. Jayalalithaa’s side could approach the High Court Registry if it wanted the case heard before Monday. Senior advocate B. Kumar and Rajya Sabha MP A. Navaneethakrishnan then approached the Registry with a memorandum to advance the hearing for Wednesday. This was accepted after scrutiny.
In the meantime, the government also issued a notification appointing Mr. Singh as the Special Public Prosecutor for the appeal.