Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Sep 1: The Central government has sought Supreme Court’s intervention on the stay granted by various high courts on graft matters. Of the 40 petitions, a case of land denotification has also been booked against Karnataka energy minister D K Shivakumar under Prevention of Corruption Act, wherein the Minister has obtained a stay.

The Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar presented the 40 petitions to a bench presided over by Justice Madan B Lokur and comprising of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Deepak Gupta. He submitted an "urgency in these matters because a large number of trials have stayed" and said the matter is required to be put before a three-judge bench.

However, the bench noted that they were sitting in three-judge combination only for a day and it was difficult to conclude the hearing on the date itself. They directed the registry to place the matter before the Chief Justice for constituting a three-judge bench.

The petitions, pending since 2013, sought an interpretation of Section 19(3)(c) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The provision stated that no court shall stay the proceedings under this Act on any ground. Neither should any court exercise the power of revision in relation to any interlocutory order passed in any inquiry, trial, appeal or other proceedings.

The issue for consideration before the apex court is if the high court can entertain petitions under Article 226 (writ jurisdiction) of the Constitution and under Section 482 (inherent power) of the Criminal Procedure Code and stay the proceedings in the corruption cases.

The question for adjudication also included if the framing of charges is an interlocutory order or not and if the same is open to revision by the HC.