Wednesday, April 20 2005 11:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today (Apr 20, 2005) refused to entertain an application from Best Bakery case key witness Zaheera Sheikh questioning the modality of procedure adopted by the Apex Court-appointed committee probing the veracity of the statements made by her and social activist Teesta Setalvad.

"We will not adjourn the proceedings for any clarification. If at all she has any grievance, it can be ventilated after the submission of the report by the committee," the court said.

Zaheera yesterday (Apr 19, 2005) forced an adjournment in the proceedings before the Supreme Court-appointed high-powered committee by accusing it of adopting a biased approach towards her in its task to examine veracity of her statements.

Her lawyer D K Garg in the application had alleged that the committee, headed by Registrar General B M Gupta, was exceeding orders of the Apex Court by "cross-examining" her.

Its member Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police Kanwaljeet Deol refuted the allegations but sought the view of Setalvad's counsel Aparna Bhat and National Human Rights Commission's (NHRC) counsel S Muralidhar on the application moved by Zaheera.

The Committee had adjourned proceedings till tomorrow (Apr 21, 2005) to allow Zaheera to mention the application before the Court to seek a clarification on the issue.

Faced with doubts created by Zaheera not only about her own statements but also about the credential of Setalvad, the Supreme Court on January 10 had ordered a high-level probe to find out who is telling the truth - Zaheera or Setalvad.