NEW DELHI, Feb 4: The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to the Registrar General regarding the designation of a court to hear the bail application of Jammu and Kashmir MP Rashid Engineer, who is currently facing charges in a terror funding case. The issue was raised during a hearing by Justice Vikas Mahajan, who was examining Rashid’s petition. Rashid had approached the court, alleging that after his election to the Lok Sabha last year, his bail plea had been left in legal limbo due to the non-designation of the NIA court as a special MP-MLA court, which could hear his case.
In his petition, Rashid claimed that the lack of clarity on which court should handle his bail application was preventing him from seeking a remedy. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had previously opposed his request for interim bail, arguing that as a Parliamentarian, he had no special “right” to be granted bail for attending the ongoing Parliament session. However, NIA’s counsel revealed that the Registrar General had filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking clarification on the designation of a court that could handle MP/MLA cases.
The court was informed that the NIA had made a similar representation to the Registrar General in November of the previous year, requesting that the NIA court be designated to hear cases involving elected representatives. Justice Mahajan, deeming it necessary, decided to issue notice to the Registrar General to obtain clarification on the administrative order concerning the matter. The next hearing has been scheduled for February 6.
Rashid’s main petition urged the High Court to expedite the decision on his pending bail plea or alternatively, for the court to take up the matter itself. On December 24 of last year, Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh, having reviewed the issue, had sought the District Judge’s intervention to transfer the case to a court designated for lawmakers, given Rashid’s status as an MP. However, the trial judge noted that he could not rule on the bail application, as it was beyond his jurisdiction until the case was properly transferred. The District Judge then returned the matter to the trial court for further proceedings.