Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Tuesday reprimanded a lawyer seeking an urgent listing of a disproportionate-assets case against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, questioning whether the move was intended to generate media attention, IANS reported.

Source: IANS via Hi India

The lawyer sought the listing contending that Gandhi had recently claimed at an event that he was in touch with 200 officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Responding, the CJI remarked, "There is no head, no tail to this mentioning," and asked the lawyer, "Have you spoken to any news channel for this?" LiveLaw's breaking-news alerts from the courtroom carried the same remarks.

Source: LiveLaw

Following the exchange, the CJI orally instructed court staff to discontinue live-streaming of mentioning proceedings henceforth, both IANS and LiveLaw reported. Mentioning is the process by which lawyers request an early listing of a case before the court.

The case arises from a complaint by Karnataka-based BJP worker S. Vignesh Shishir, who has alleged — an allegation, not a finding — that Gandhi possessed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. In August, the Supreme Court asked the Allahabad High Court to defer proceedings in the matter and restrained the CBI and the ED from submitting any report before the High Court, while noting that an agency with knowledge of disproportionate assets could proceed on its own without court orders.