Hearing in cash-at-judge's door case adjourned till 26th March

A designated court in Chandigarh on Saturday adjourned the hearing in the Cash-at-Judge's door scam till 26th March after conclusion of arguments by the prime accused arguing for himself in the case and the counsel for the petitioner.

CBI Special Judge Darshan Singh fixed the next date in the case after Sanjeev Bansal, the prime accused in the case and Anupam Gupta, the counsel on behalf of the petitioner Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association, had concluded their arguments.

Gupta, the counsel of the Association, which had moved aprotest petition against the closure report filed by the CBI in the case, maintained that offences were made out againstthe accused and quoted several earlier Supreme Court judgments to stress his point that "opinion of Attorney General in the case was not binding".

"The then AG's opinion that no case is made out against the accused is not binding. The CBI says the case is made out.Under the CBI manual the opinion of the CBI Director is finaland the AG finds no place in the scheme of things as per theinvestigating agency's own manual," Gupta said in response toBansal's assertion that the opinion of the AG was binding.

Bansal, who is arguing his own case, had cited the multi-crore fodder scam of Bihar in support of his point.

Gupta, however, said it was the report of the "officer in-charge of investigations which is treated as final."

He told the Court that the law has been continuously evolving and made a mention of a few judgments ranging from Taj Corridor case to Hawala case to stress that the issue in Chandigarh needs to be seen from a wider perspective.