FERA case: Supreme Court dismisses plea of AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran

Chennai

The Supreme Court today dismissed a plea of AIADMK leaderTTV Dinakaran seeking extension of the three-month time to contest the framingof charges against him in a FERA violation case.

The apex court warned Dinakaran that if such"frivolous" petitions are filed again, then it may impose heavy coston him.

The Madras High Court had in July vacated the stay on theproceedings against Dinakaran in a Foreign Exchange Regulations Act (FERA) casepending in a special court.

It had set aside the charges framed against him by thespecial court on April 19 and directed the trial court to start afresh theproceedings after granting adequate opportunity to the accused and completingthe process within three months.

A bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and U U Lalit soughtto know what could be the reason for Dinakaran to feel aggrieved with the highcourt order directing trial court to complete framing of charges proceedings inthree months.

"Why are you aggrieved? Do you want us to issuedirections to all courts to not decide cases expeditiously? If you file suchfrivolous petitions again, we may impose heavy cost on you. The bar should havesome responsibility," the bench said.

Counsel appearing for the AIADMK leader said it would bedifficult for him to put up his arguments in three months and more time isneeded.

He said since the case was very old, he will need more timeand three-month cap will not be sufficient for him.

"You moved High Court after framing of charges byspecial court saying you were not accorded adequate opportunity to put up yourdefence. The court granted you three months time but now still you areaggrieved. This is not done," the bench said.

The prosecution has alleged that Dinakaran acquired USD1,04,93,313 in foreign exchange without obtaining prior permission from theReserve Bank of India and deposited it in the current account of DipperInvestments Limited, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands andhaving accounts with Barclays Bank, Sutton, UK.

The Enforcement Directorate had charged him under FERAviolation and Rs 28 crore penalty was imposed on him.

On April 19, the special court had framed charges againsthim in the two decade old case, based on the chargesheet filed by theinvestigating agency.