Supreme Court Issues Notice On Satyendra Jain's Plea Against VIPS Chairman Over Cross-Examination Of A Witness In An Election Matter

The Supreme Court on July 12 issued notice on a plea filed by former Delhi Minister Satyendra Jain against Dr SC Vats, Chairman of the governing council of Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies (VIPS). The case pertains to a witness sought to be cross-examined by Jain in a 2020 election petition filed by Vats challenging his election from Shakur Basti, Delhi.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order after hearing Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, who addressed arguments on behalf of Jain. The matter was directed to be listed next week.

To put briefly, Vats filed an election petition in 2020 challenging Satyendra Jain's election as MLA from Shakur Basti, Delhi. He summoned an Assistant Electoral Registration Officer in the case for proving and producing certain documents. Allegedly, this officer was sought to be examined by Satyendra Jain for matters beyond the summoned record.

Objections were raised by Vats, which were sustained by the Joint Registrar, Delhi High Court. Aggrieved, Satyendra Jain moved a chamber appeal, but the Single Bench also held in Vats' favor. It observed that Vats had summoned the officer under Part B, Rule 3 of Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules, 1967 i.e., a witness required to produce documents only and not to give any oral evidence.

This officer was cross-examined with respect to official records/documents brought by him (in relation to which he was summoned). However Satyendra Jain purportedly sought to confront him with his own set of documents.

Going through the 1967 Rules, the High Court held, "merely because the petitioner in his list of witnesses had described the said official as a witness to produce and prove documents, he cannot be termed as a witness". It was further noted that the documents in relation to which the officer was sought to be cross-examined by Satyendra Jain were sought to be produced and proved by another witness cited by him, and as such, no prejudice would be caused.

Aggrieved by this order, Satyendra Jain moved the top Court. On May 13, Justice Sanjiv Khanna recused from hearing the case, citing as reason the fact that his son studied in VIPS.

Case Title: SATYENDRA JAIN Versus S.C. VATS AND ORS., Diary No. 52890-2023

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