Thursday, April 21 2005 11:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today (Apr 21, 2005) dismissed two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy seeking registration of FIRs on his two complaints against Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

A division bench of Chief Justice B C Patel and S K Kaul also dismissed Swamy's plea challenging grant of Indian citizenship to Sonia in 1983 on the grounds of inordinate delay.

The bench referred to a Supreme Court judgement pronounced in 2001, which had decided the citizenship issue and also said that there was a delay of over 20 years in approaching the court.

However, Swamy submitted that the issue of Sonia Gandhi's citizenship was not argued upon by the parties and that the court could not have decided the issue without hearing it properly.

Maintaining that the issue was heard by it, the bench said if he felt that he was not heard on the issue of citizenship, he could move a fresh application and the court would pass an appropriate order after giving notice to the other party and hearing the matter.

Swamy, after the judgement was pronounced, told sources that he would move a fresh application in the court on the citizenship issue.

The Janata Party president had submitted before the court that CBI was reluctant to register the FIR as it involved a person "who is powerful and mighty."

"If an FIR can be registered against the Shankaracharya of Kanchi Mutt why the agency could not lodge an FIR in this matter when witnesses were ready to file affidavit," he said.

But the Bench asked Swamy to confine his arguments to his matter.

Swamy told sources that he would move an application as asked by the court to agitate the issue of grant of citizenship to Sonia Gandhi.