Supreme Court rejects Karti Chidambaram's plea for return of Rs 10 cr

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea of Congress MP Karti Chidambaram seeking return of Rs 10 crore which he had deposited with the court's registry for travelling abroad. A vacation bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose dismissed Karti's plea and said, " We will now ask you to deposit more each time you go abroad. Pay attention to your constituency." Karti was allowed to visit United Kingdom and France in January after depositing Rs 10 crore with the court registry.

The Court imposed a stiff condition that if he insisted on getting his money back, he would be asked to shell out Rs 20 crore when he next seeks permission to visit abroad.

The visits were in connection with organising tennis tournaments as Karti is a tennis enthusiast and has served as Vice-President of All India Tennis Association.

When the counsel insisted that the January order allowed him to redeem the amount on his return, the bench said, "You can take back your Rs 10 crore but next time you must be ready to give Rs 20 crore." "The applicant shall make a deposit of Rs.10,00,00,000 before the Secretary General of this Court, which will be returned to him after he comes back to the country," the court said.

Clearly, Karti has lost the Rs 10 crore deposits. But his worries have compounded as he made another deposit of Rs 10 crore on May 7 to be granted permission to travel to UK, United States of America and France from May 9 to 21 and from June 7 to 25 to Germany and Spain. The order too similarly allowed Karti to redeem the deposit on his return. This amount too could face a similar fate.

In the past one year, Karti has made seven foreign visits in connection with the tennis tournaments. This included May 20 -26, 2018 to Lyon, June 11-17, 2018 to Stuttgart, June 18-24, 2018 to Mallorca, September 20-October 1, 2018 to UK, followed by the visits in February, March and May this year. The condition to pay Rs 10 crore as security deposit was introduced by Court only in January this year. Meanwhile, the Court has invested the Rs 10 crore in an interest-bearing account with a nationalized bank to be renewed after every three months.

Travel Woes

• In the past year, Karti has made 7 foreign visits in connection with tennis tournaments
• Court said if Karti insists on getting his money back, he would have to shell out 
• Rs 20 cr when he next seeks permission to visit abroad
• Karti is facing proceedings in cases like Aircel-Maxis and money-laundering matters