Kripashankar's 'bench hunting' act unacceptable: SC

Senior Maharashtra Congress leader Kripashankar Singh on Friday invited the Supreme Court's ire for having mentioned his plea against a corruption case against him and his family members before a different bench on Friday after getting the same withdrawn from the court's mentioning list on Thursday.

Terming Singh's act as that of "bench-hunting," a bench of justices D K Jain and A R Dave refused to grant any immediate relief to the Congress leader and even ticked off his counsel, senior advocate Ranjit Kumar for mentioning his plea before it after getting the same withdrawn on Thursday.

"We are very sorry. We are very sorry, this cannot happen. This is nothing but bench hunting," the bench told senior counsel Ranjit Kumar.

The apex court told the senior counsel that "such practice" was unacceptable and directed that the matter be posted for hearing on the date notified.

The apex court added that senior counsel like Ranjit Kumar have a duty towards the court as law officers to prevent such type of "bench hunting" efforts.

In judiciary, the bench hunting refers to a litigant's bid to have his matter listed and heard by a bench, which one perceives to be favourable to oneself, albeit wrongly.

The apex court was irked as the matter was originally slated for mentioning on Thursday but was abruptly withdrawn and listed for fresh mentioning on Friday.

The case against Singh and his family members was lodged on the Bombay High Court's direction.

In effect, the apex court declined to put any interim stay on the high court judgment as sought by Singh.

The senior Congress leader from Mumbai had moved the apex court after the high court had ordered his prosecution and attachment of his immovable properties in a disproportionate assets case against him.

The high court had also ordered a probe against Kripashankar's family by the Mumbai Police, directing it to collect documentary evidence regarding all movable and immovable properties of the leader and his family, including his wife, son and daughter-in-law.

"We can easily conclude prima facie that a cognisable offence is disclosed against Kripashankar Singh. It need not detain us to conclude that such investigation is of common nature and need not even be specifically directed by the court but should have been undertaken by the investigating agencies like the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) themselves as public officers," the court had said.

The high court had expressed its astonishment at the Congress leader's "rags-to-riches" story, saying he had started from scratch in 1970s and nothing was acquired by him till he became an MLA in 1998.

The high court had passed the direction on a public interest litigation filed by a social activist Sanjay Tiwari who had alleged that the Congress MLA had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The court, while keeping the PIL pending, had directed the police commissioner to file a compliance report on April 19.

Tiwari had alleged in the petition that Singh had been close to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, who is currently in jail for alleged involvement in a multi-crore hawala scam.

He also alleged that several monetary transactions had taken place between them.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government has decided to make available a chartered accountant to help police, which on Friday conducted raids at the premises of former city Congress chief.

"The government does not want to shield anybody. That is not our viewpoint. The court has expressed faith in us and issued directions, which are being acted upon," Patil said.

"No one has interfered in the investigations. The police have been directed to conduct the probe in an objective manner," the minister said.