By IANS,
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Wednesday dismissed former Andhra Pradesh governor N.D. Tiwari’s plea challenging the paternity suit filed by a 34-year-old man who says the Congress leader is his biological father.
Justices Vikramjit Sen and Manmohan Singh said there was ample evidence to prove that the suit filed by Rohit Shekhar could be filed in Delhi – a ground on which Shekhar’s plea was dismissed earlier by a single bench.
According to the division bench, as Tiwari is not the governor of Andhra Pradesh any more and has an official residence in Delhi, the case could be heard by the Delhi High Court.
The single bench, while refusing to admit Shekhar’s plea earlier, had said that since Tiwari was the governor of Andhra, the suit against him should be filed in that state.
On Wednesday, the court checked Tiwari’s counsel when he submitted that Shekhar’s plea was not maintainable. It said it may consider ordering a DNA test if the issue of maintainability was raised by Tiwari, now 86.
Shekhar’s plea will now come up before a single bench April 7.
Senior advocate P.S. Patwali, who argued for Shekhar, stressed that Tiwari’s denial in accepting him as his son was the reason for filing this civil suit.
Welcoming the court order, Ujwala Sharma, mother of Shekhar, said: “I am very happy and it is a big victory for us.”
Shekhar said the purpose of filing the suit was to know who his biological father was. “It’s my fundamental right,” he told reporters.
Shekhar said he was seeking a DNA test to know if Tiwari was his father. He indicated that he wanted an apology from the veteran Congressman if the test proved him to be so.
According to Shekhar’s petition, Tiwari began neglecting Shekhar and his mother Ujjawala Sharma after 1995 and refused to meet him after becoming the Uttranchal chief minister.
Tiwari’s five-decade-old political career came to a virtual end after a news channel last year showed clippings of an elderly man purported to be Tiwari in bed with three young women.
A few days later, Tiwari resigned as the Andhra Pradesh governor citing health grounds.