New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would first decide whether it was entitled to see the documents CBI has intended to placed before it in a sealed cover relating to its probe in a case against Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union Minister P Chidambaram, before taking a call on other issues.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said it would deliver a judgement whether in an appeal by way of a special leave petition (SLP), the apex court was entitled to see any documents relating to the investigation.
The curious turn of events took place as CBI's counsel and Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta intended to show the documents to the top court, while senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Karti, raised serious objections over it.
The CBI FIR, lodged on May 15, had alleged irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when Karti's father was the Union Finance Minister.
Sibal told the bench, which also comprised Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, that documents cannot be filed by CBI in the apex court like this in an SLP that had arisen out of an order of the Madras High Court on a writ petition.
He argued that if the documents were to be filed and seen by the bench, then Karti was also entitled to get them.
He said even if the documents were to be seen by the apex court, these materials cannot be relied upon by the court for adjudicating the validity of the look out circular (LoC) issued against Karti.
Countering these submissions, Mehta said documents could be filed by the CBI and seen exclusively by the court without giving it to the other side as it was part of the case diary.
"We will hear first and deliver a judgement whether in an SLP which arises from an Article 21 writ petition before the high court, we are entitled to see anything which has taken place during the investigation," the bench said.