SC refuses plea for speedy disposal of National Herald case
Swamy claimed that he has a right to speedy disposal of a case under Article 21 of the Constitution
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a writ petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy seeking “speedy disposal" of a case pending in the Delhi high court in relation to the National Herald controversy.
A two-judge bench of justices Gopala Gowda and R. Banumathi asked Swamy to explain how he could approach the Supreme Court directly under Article 32 of the Constitution, which protects fundamental rights of citizens.
Swamy claimed that he has a right to speedy disposal of a case under Article 21 of the Constitution, which broadly speaks about right to life. The judges asked him to approach the high court before the same judge or file a fresh writ petition there. Subsequently, Swamy chose to withdraw his petition and go to the high court.
Swamy had complained against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, among others, before a lower court alleging misappropriation of funds through the now-defunct newspaper National Herald.
The lower court had issued summons against the Gandhis. These summons were challenged by the Gandhis before the Delhi high court; the Gandhis wanted the summons to be squashed.
On Tuesday, Swamy contended that repeated adjournments were being sought by the Gandhis in the case before the high court. Further, he said that despite the fact that his case had been heard in part by a particular judge, justice V.P. Vaish, the same had been transferred to a different judge after a change in the roster of cases allotted to the respective judges.
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