Supreme Court Waives Requirement Of Solvency Certificate For Gautam Navlakha To Avail House Arrest

The Supreme Court on Tuesday waived the condition that activist Gautam Navlakha, who is lodged in Mumbai prison in the Bhima Koregaon case, should obtain a solvency certificate for availing the benefit of house arrest.

Last week, the Court had allowed Navlakha's request to be placed under house arrest in consideration of his medical condition. However, the Court had imposed several conditions, including the requirement to furnish surety of Rs 2 lakhs

Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan and Advocate Shadan Farasat submitted before a bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy that it will take a minimum of six weeks to secure solvency certificate in respect of surety to be provided.

"Considering the submission and the circumstances, we deem it appropriate to waive the requirement of a solvency certificate for the petitioner (Navlakha) to avail the benefit of our order dated November 10, 2022. It is ordered accordingly," the bench said.

The Court further ordered that since other adequate security proofs such as passport, Aadhaar card and Permanent Account Number (PAN) card have been provided, the trial court should not insist on a ration card as an additional proof of identity for the benefit of the apex court's order to take effect.

Click here to read/download the order