Supreme Court extends bail to Jayalalithaa, 3 others

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday extended the bail to former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa and three others in the Rs 66-crore disproportionate assets case, till the disposal of their appeals in the Karnataka high court against their conviction and sentence of four-year imprisonment by a special court in Bengaluru.

A bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice Arun Mishra also granted time till May 12 to Justice Kumaraswamy of the Karnataka high court, who heard the appeals to pronounce his judgment, which he reserved on March 11.

But this would depend on the outcome of the hearing by a three-judge bench on the issue of appointment of public prosecutor. The bench extended the bail till the disposal of the appeals taking into the consideration the fact that the bail originally granted to them on October 17, 2014 and further extended by four months on December 18, 2014, expired on Friday.

The bench on December 18 also asked the Karnataka HC to complete hearing the appeals before April 17.

=======================================
Bringing Relief
=======================================

• Senior counsel Fali Nariman, appearing for Ms Jayalalithaa brought to the notice of the bench a letter received on April 10 on behalf of Justice Kumaraswami seeking time till April 30 to give his verdict.
• Initially, the bench said it would grant time till April 30.
• But senior counsel T.R. Andhyarujina, appearing for the DMK general secretary K. Anbazhagan, said since the request from the judge was received prior to the split verdict, some more time was needed.