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Delhi HC dismisses Jaya Jaitley's plea

The Delhi high court on Wednesday dismissed the petition of former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitley questioning the procedures adopted by the Justice K Venkataswami Commission for calling witnesses and the authenticity of the Tehelka tapes, and also her request that she be called to depose as a witness after the Tehelka reporters had been examined.

The Justice K Venkataswamy Commission was set up by the government of India after news website Tehelka.com released video footage exposing corruption in defence deals involving several top ranking officers and politicians.

One of the tapes showed Jaya Jaitley offering to help alleged arm dealers at a meeting in the official residence of Defence Minister George Fernandes in New Delhi.

In the tape, she is also seen telling the dealers that they could donate money to the party fund.

In her petition Jaya Jaitley had raised some procedural objections against the Commission regarding examination of witnesses.

She also claimed that the tapes had been tampered with.

Another plea was that she be summoned as a witness only after the Tehelka.com reporters had been examined by the commission.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Manmohan J Sarin ruled that the nature of proceedings under the Commission of Inquiry Act are in the nature of a fact finding enquiry and these are not accusatorial in nature.

"There would be no violation of the principles of natural justice if the petitioner is required to appear prior to the authors of the tape," he said referring to the last-mentioned plea.

On the authenticity of the tapes, comprising of 105 hours of footage, and her demand to examine all them, the judge ruled that Jaitley could refer to only the two tapes in which she appears.

"Considering that the commission has the freedom to devise its own procedure, the approach adopted by the commission cannot be faulted with or said to be violative of the principles of natural justice or causing any prejudice to the petitioner (or others involved in the case)," the order said adding that 'the writ petition has no merit and is dismissed'.

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