ND Tiwari must take DNA test on paternity plea: HC

Veteran Congress leader N D Tiwari will have to undergo a DNA test on a paternity suit filed by a youth claiming to be his biological son with the Delhi high court on Monday refusing to stay an earlier order asking him to give his blood sample.

As a result, proceedings would commence on Tuesday before the court's joint registrar on the issue to ascertain the claim of 31-year-old Rohit Shekhar. A bench of justices Vikramajit Sen and Siddharth Mridul reserved their order on an appeal by 85-year-old Tiwari challenging the high court verdict, saying a frivolous petition had been moved against him as he was no way linked to Rohit's mother, Ujjwala Sharma, a Congress activist.

Senior advocate Jayant Bhushan, appearing for Tiwari, sought interim stay of the December 23 order of the single judge asking Tiwari to undergo the test. The counsel said, "There was no urgency as the petitioner (Rohit) has not sought any pecuniary relief".

"Can Tiwari file an affidavit that he would remain alive for next ten years," the bench asked. Bhushan, initiating the arguments, said Tiwari cannot be compelled by the court to give his blood sample and there were various Supreme Court judgments on the issue.

The single judge order asking the leader to undergo the test was erroneous as a legal and valid marriage was subsisting between Ujjwala and Bimal Prasad Sharma, the legitimate father of Rohit. Moreover, Ujjwala and Bimal had access to each other and there was conclusive proof that Rohit was their legitimate child, he said. The words paternity and legitimacy, were interchangeable and no distinction can be drawn between them, Bhushan said.

Sudhir Nandrajog, counsel for Rohit, opposed Tiwari's plea saying the paternity and legitimacy were two distinct issues and the single judge had rightly asked him to undergo the test.

Rohit, who claims to be Tiwari's biological son born out of the leader's relationship with his mother, had moved the court seeking a legal declaration to this effect. The single judge bench had asked Tiwari to undergo the DNA test saying "the wider interest of a child of not being declared a bastard has to be kept in mind."

Tiwari, a former chief minister of UP and Uttarakhand who has held key ministerial portfolios at the Centre, was forced to resign as Andhra Pradesh Governor in 2009 amid allegations of sexual misconduct against him.