The High Court of Karnataka on Friday declined to accept the former Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s plea for either extension of time for his appearance before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or protection from arrest if he appeared before it, till he filed an appeal against Thursday’s order of dismissal of his plea against the agency’s earlier summons.
Justice Aravind Kumar, who on Thursday dismissed the petition against summons issued by the ED in January, said the court cannot consider these pleas owing to prohibition on it, under Section 362 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, from altering or reviewing its judgments under the provisions of the Cr.PC except correcting clerical or arithmetic errors.
Once the judgment is delivered under Section 482 of the Cr.PC, the particular court becomes functus officio, the court said while declining to entertain Mr. Shivakumar’s plea.
Senior Counsel B.V. Acharya, appearing for Mr. Shivakumar, contended that the former Minister was given extension of time for appearance before the ED during the pendency of his petition challenging the summons issued by the agency in January, and the same arrangement should be continued till he filed an appeal before the appellate court — a Division Bench of the High Court.
The court, however, said the ED had granted extension of time for appearance during pendency of petition initially as the court had granted liberty to Mr. Shivakumar to seek extension of time from the agency, which later did not issue fresh summons for his appearance during the pendency of the petition.