Adani bail: Petition seeks action against judge

Ahmedabad, March 11 (IANS) A public suit filed in the Gujarat High Court has sought action against a judge and enquiry against the registrar for giving interim bail to businessman Rajesh Adani, charged with customs duty evasion, on the ground they had exceeded their brief.

Arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Feb 27 in Goa, Rajesh Adani, the managing director of the Adani group, was granted bail till March 2 by Justice R.M. Doshit of the high court after a habeas corpus petition was filed.

Petitioner Girish Das, an advocate in the high court, in his petition filed Wednesday evening sought quashing of the interim bail.

It also charged the then registrar (judicial) of the high court, G.K. Upadhayay, with forwarding the bail plea, without permission of the chief justice, to a judge who was not hering habeas corpus or bail cases.

"The learned judge knowing fully well that the judicial business of habeas corpus or granting of bail, interim or otherwise, is not allotted to him, entertained the petition and passed orders on it, forwarded at his residence on a holiday (Feb 27 was a Sunday)," the petition says.

"A habeas corpus petition is exclusively the business of a division bench and a single judge has no authority to entertain such petitions and inspite of this, the learned judge entertained the said habeas corpus petition singly," it adds.

The petition further seeks to  point out "that the order passed by Justice  R.M. Doshit is null and void and thereafter the order passed by the division bench based on that order also suffers from the same infirmity."

"The conduct therefore undeniably is subversive of discipline and an inquiry should be conducted by  the appropriate authority. This court may form an opinion and forward the same...with a request letter to consider and determine the appropriate action keeping in mind and considering the antecedents of the concerned judge," the petition says.

Das also sought directions of the court to the Central Bureau of Investigation's western region joint director to "conduct a  inquiry against Rajesh Adani for examining correctness, legality and validity of agreement with Dubai Port World of UAE and the possibility of endangering internal security of the state and the country".