Bidari case referred to Chief Justice

BANGALORE: The petition filed by IGP Shankar M Bidari, seeking transfer of his case for appointment as state DG & IG to a Bench other than the one which earlier quashed his appointment, has been referred to the Chief Justice. In his petition, Bidari had said the March 30 decision of the Bench declaring his appointment “null and void” was not likely to be changed. The Special Division Bench, headed by Justice N Kumar, had asked the state and IG & DGP Infant whether they had any objections to the same Bench hearing the case, and they said they did not have any objection. Hearing Bidari’s petition on Thursday, Justice Kumar observed, “Bidari is neither my relative nor my enemy. The Supreme Court directed the HC to consider the matter afresh, and it didn’t say the matter should not be referred to the same Bench. The Chief Justice referred this case to this Bench, and we cut short our vacation to hear it.” The matter was referred to the Chief Justice. On April 24, the SC stayed the HC order quashing Bidari’s appointment as DG & IG, and directed the HC to review the case. Bidari and Infant are due to retire on May 31.