CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday adjourned to August 7 the hearing on the review petition filed by former minister and senior DMK leader KN Nehru contending that the order directing registration of an FIR in the alleged Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department recruitment bribery case was passed without hearing him.
The matter relates to a communication sent by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) seeking registration of a case over allegations that bribes running into several crores were collected for 2,538 appointments to posts including assistant engineer, junior engineer and sanitary inspector in the department.
Based on the ED's communication, AIADMK MP IS Inbadurai approached the High Court seeking a direction to register a case. On February 20, a bench led by the Chief Justice directed the registration of an FIR. Nehru subsequently filed a review petition seeking reconsideration of the order on the ground that it had been passed without hearing him.
When the matter came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan, senior advocates Siddharth Luthra and PH Aravind Pandian, appearing for Nehru, argued that the High Court had directed the registration of an FIR without hearing him, which amounted to a direct violation of the principles of natural justice.
They submitted that Nehru, being a party to the litigation and not a stranger to the proceedings, had a right to be heard and that such a right could not be curtailed. Questioning the maintainability of the review petition, Advocate General Vijay Narayan argued that since the order was passed in a writ petition of a criminal nature, Section 362 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) barred the court from entertaining a review petition against it. After hearing the review petitioners, the bench adjourned the matter to August 7 for hearing the State's arguments.