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Supreme Court judge, Justice MR Shah on Friday took strong objection over Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra seeking adjournment due to personal difficulty in the matter pertaining to temporary suspension of Asharam Bapu’s sentence on medical grounds.
Emphasizing on the fact that Senior Advocate Luthra’s first priority should have been, Justice Shah said,
“Mr Luthra, last time when the matter was called out, you said that you had personal difficulty however you appeared before Calcutta High Court & not in Supreme Court. You have to give 1st priority to the Supreme Court. You stated in the letter that you had some personal difficulty”
Clarifying the misunderstanding and apologising for appearing before Calcutta High Court in Narada Scam hearing, Senior Advocate Luthra said that the adjournment letter was corrected and thereafter a fresh letter was issued. He also said that he had himself pointed out to the briefing counsel that the letter ought not to have been circulated.
“I was in a part heard matter. It's not about priority. I was already in a part heard matter before another court and I was on my legs since Thursday prior. Please understand my predicament as a Senior Counsel. It is not within my control”, Senior Advocate Luthra added.
The objection was taken against the backdrop of Asharam Bapu’s plea in which Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra appearing for Asharam Bapu sought time since Bapu due to serious medical condition was admitted in a hospital and Senior Advocate Luthra was unaware of Bapu’s medical conditions.
“We are not aware of his medical condition. We've called for the medical records by moving an application.”, Senior Advocate Luthra further said.
Appearing for State of Rajasthan Senior Advocate Manish Singhvi while referring to the order dated June 4, 2021 passed by vacation bench of Justice Vineet Saran and Justice BR Gavai submitted that Bapu’s plea became infructuous since Bapu had been shifted to a hospital.
“Now Ashram Bapu is hospitalised & this plea has become infructuous. How can he be shifted to Uttarakhand? Kindly see June 4th order. It was for a limited purpose only. This petition has become infructuous since notice was issued only for limited purpose.”, Senior Advocate Manish Singhvi said.
Justice MR Shah at this juncture asked Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra to withdraw the application and file a plea before Rajasthan High Court which was in Bapu’s interest.
“We made the same prayer before the High Court, but the High Court dismissed it.”, Senior Advocate Luthra replied while requesting for the matter to be heard post summer vacations to which the Court agreed.
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