Senior Advocate AM Singhvi Objects To Listing Of AAP Leader Satyendar Jain's Bail Plea Before Bench Led By Justice Bela Trivedi

Update : CJI DY Chandrachud Explains Why Satyendar Jain's Bail Plea Was Listed Before Justice Bela Trivedi's Bench

Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Thursday (December 14) raised an objection before the Chief Justice of India regarding the listing of the bail petition of Aam Aadmi Party leader Satyendar Jain before a bench led by Justice Bela Trivedi. 

"This case was listed before Justice AS Bopanna. He had heard it for 2.5 hours. Now the case is listed before Justice Bela Trivedi," Singhvi said.

However, CJI DY Chandrachud did not seem to be inclined to change the bench combination. He stated–

"I will not control what the judge is doing in the matter listed before her. The matter is listed before the judge. The judge will take a call on it. I cannot."

At this juncture, Senior Advocate Singhvi stated that he was just asking for a deferment in the matter. However, the CJI reiterated that once the matter had been listed before a judge, he could not intervene.

Jain, a former Cabinet Minister of the Delhi Government, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case on May 30, 2022. He remained in custody until a vacation bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices JK Maheshwari and PS Narasimha granted him interim bail on health grounds on May 26 this year.

In August, a bench comprising Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh extended Jain's interim bail after a brief hearing. On September 1, the matter was listed before a bench comprising Justices AS Bopanna and PK Mishra, but was adjourned following the recusal of Justice Mishra. Later, the matter was posted before a combination of Justices AS Bopanna and Bela M Trivedi on a couple of occasions.

The matter is listed today before a bench comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma.

This is not the first time that a listing of a matter before Justice Trivedi's bench has attracted controversy. Previously, the Tamil Nadu Vigilance Director had written to the SC Registry objecting to the listing of an appeal before Justice Trivedi's bench on the ground that the matter was previously heard by Justice Aniruddha Bose's bench. Last week, Advocate Prashant Bhushan wrote to the SC registry alleging irregularities in the listing of UAPA pleas before Justice Trivedi's bench. A common ground of objection taken in these instances is that as per the SC rules, when a bench combination changes, the matter should follow the bench of the senior judge of that bench.