Tiwari asked to furnish blood sample on Saturday

New Delhi -  Congress leader N.D. Tiwari has been asked to appear in the Delhi High Court dispensary on Saturday to submit his blood sample for a DNA test in a paternity suit.

The court's joint registrar, Deepak Garg, Monday asked the dispensary head to appoint a doctor to take Tiwari's blood sample on May 26, the next date of hearing.

"Let an option be given to him (Tiwari) to appear voluntarily. Notice be issued to chief of dispensary...who will appoint a suitable doctor to collect blood sample for DNA test," Garg said, adding that the court should not rush to take police assistance for enforcing its order.

"Defendant number 1 (Tiwari) is directed to appear on May 26 at 12 noon along with his two photographs," the court added.

The court May 16 had directed its joint registrar to take police assistance, if needed, to bring Tiwari to the court premises for collecting his blood sample.

Justice Reva Khetrapal had made it clear that the joint registrar could use police force in case Tiwari refused to abide by the court order.

Rohit Shekhar, 32, has filed the paternity suit, claiming to be the biological son of Tiwari, 86.

Meanwhile, Shekhar's counsel informed that the requisite DNA kit has been received by the high court registry from Hyderabad-based lab Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD).

Shekhar said in his plea that as Tiwari's age time was of essence, an irreparable loss would be caused to him if the samples were not collected at the earliest.

There was an urgent need of blood sample for DNA test as there were chances that Tiwari may depart from India in order to avoid the court order, Shekhar said.

Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri had earlier said that if Tiwari continued to defy the court's order to give his blood sample for DNA test, police force would be used against him.

Sikri passed the order on Shekhar's plea challenging the September 2011 order of Justice Gita Mittal which said that Tiwari could not be physically compelled or confined for submitting his blood sample for DNA test.

Tiwari on June 1, 2011 had refused to appear in the high court dispensary to give his blood sample for DNA test to ascertain Shekhar's claim, saying he cannot be forced to do so.