ROY GETS A WEEK TO SURRENDER
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court, on Friday, gave one week to Sahara chief Subrata Roy and two company directors to surrender as it “terminated the interim arrangement” under which the court had allowed them to be out of jail on parole.
High drama preceded the SC order. A special bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) TS Thakur had in the morning cancelled Roy and directors’ parole, ordering that they should be immediately taken to Tihar.
Infuriated by the manner in which senior counsel Rajeev Dhawan argued the matter, the bench refused to extend their bail.
By afternoon, however, the bench agreed to have a relook at its order after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, down with viral fever, rushed to the court.
The former union minister offered an unconditional apology on behalf of his client. Assisted by senior advocate Narendra Hooda, Sibal told the court that Dhawan had exceeded his brief and made unnecessary comments.
“It won’t happen again. He (Dhawan) will never appear in the case. Please withdraw the morning order,” Sibal submitted.
Though the bench later agreed to hear the fresh application, it did not recall the morning order and instead extended the time for Roy and the directors to surrender.
In a brief order passed post lunch, the bench said, “In the meantime, the interim arrangement made by this court shall stand terminated. The contemnors are given one week’s time to surrender back to custody.”
The court will hear the application on September 28.
Dhawan, however, defended his aggressive posture in the court. He said the bench had cancelled Roy’s parole out of anger.
“Orders passed in a temper, especially when all conditions are fulfilled are both inappropriate and unbecoming,” he said in a written statement. Dhawan said he informed the bench that Sahara had paid `362 crore, more than what it was asked to pay and Roy along with two others should continue to be on parole.
INFURIATED BY THE MANNER IN WHICH COUNSEL RAJEEV DHAWAN ARGUED, THE BENCH EARLIER IN THE DAY REFUSED TO EXTEND ROY’S BAIL