No cut-and-paste job, clarifies HC judge on order denying bail to PC

New Delhi, November 18

The Delhi High Court clarified on Monday that the facts of another case mentioned in the order denying bail to former finance minister P Chidambaram are only for reference.

Justice Suresh Kait said it was nowhere mentioned in the November 15 order that the observations made in a particular paragraph are of Chidambaram’s case.

The court’s clarification came while taking up the matter suo motu (on its own) following news articles that there is ‘cut and paste’ work in the judgement.

“Thus, there is no cut and paste as alleged and I hereby make it clear that observations made in paragraph 35 shall be read as and are confined to the case of ‘Rohit Tandon Vs Enforcement Directorate’,” the judge said.

The court directed the chief editors of two newspapers, who have published the “wrong averments”, to clarify the same in their respective newspapers on Tuesday.

It also directed the registry of the high court to send a copy of its Monday order to the chief editors of the two newspapers today itself for necessary compliance.

The court also clarified that in paragraph 34 of the Chidambaram’s November 15 bail order, “only a reference to the observations made by this court in ‘Rohit Tandon Vs Enforcement Directorate’... has been recorded.”

In his 41-page verdict on November 15, Justice Kait had cited some paragraphs from 2017 Supreme Court and high court orders rejecting bail to Delhi-based lawyer Rohit Tandon in a money-laundering case.

Earlier in the day, ED approached the high court seeking rectification of an “inadvertent” error in the bail order and urged the court to correct the “accidental slip/inadvertent error”.

Delhi-based lawyer Rohit Tandon, who was arrested in 2016, is an accused in the demonetisation-related money laundering case.

The senior Congress leader moved the Supreme Court on Monday challenging the Delhi High Court’s Friday order denying him bail in the money laundering case.

In the INX Media money-laundering case, the ED had arrested 74-year-old Chidambaram on October 16.

He was arrested by the CBI on August 21 in the INX Media corruption case and was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the CBI case on October 22.

The case was registered by the CBI on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007, during Chidambaram’s tenure as finance minister.

Thereafter, the ED had lodged a money-laundering case in this regard in 2017. — PTI