Supreme Court judge hearing Mulayam's case to retire on Friday

Supreme Court Justice Cyriac Joseph retires on Friday. Before he does so, he would have to deliver his verdict on the high-profile corruption case filed against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his family.

Sheela Bhatt reports from New Delhi.

Supreme Court Justice Cyriac Joseph retires on January 27.

All eyes are on the apex court because Justice Joseph and Justice Altamas Kabir had heard the serious corruption case against Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his family in February 2009.

The judgment was 'reserved' on a specific aspect of the case.

The litigation has been going on since 2005 when petitioner Vishwanath Chaturvedi filed a case of disproportionate income and benami assets worth thousands of crores of rupees against the Yadav family.

Supreme Court tradition requires that judges, before they retire from the august bench, deliver judgments in litigation pending before her/him.

If the judgment is not delivered, the entire case has to be re-heard.

"I am waiting for justice," says Chaturvedi. "I will wait to see what happens."

His petition listed scores of properties in the names of Mulayam Singh Yadav, his sons Akhilesh Yadav and Prateek Yadav, and daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav.

Chaturvedi produced before the court the sale deeds of various properties owned by the Yadav family across Uttar Pradesh worth over Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) in 2005.

The corruption case against a political family in India is a glaring example of delayed justice.

Mulayam Singh Yadav has, on various occasions for different aspects of the matter, roped in India's finest lawyers to argue his case.

In March 2007, Supreme Court Justice A R Lakshmanan, who was then hearing the case against Mulayam Singh Yadav, broke down in court.

The judge had received an anonymous letter that accused him of various charges, following which he recused himself from hearing the case.

Justice Lakshmanan, in a choked voice, then told the court, 'In seventeen-and-a-half years of my judicial career, I have never gone through such a thing. I am very much pained. The contents of the letter are so heinous that my wife and I are very disturbed.'

Later, a new Supreme Court bench was constituted to hear the case.

Mulayam Singh Yadav has maintained that the case against him and his family was politically motivated. He accused the Congress party and the Central Bureau of Investigation of playing politics.