New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered that ailing CPI(M) leader Mohd Yusuf Tarigami be shifted from Srinagar, where he is under detention at his home, to AIIMS in Delhi without any delay.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and also comprising Justices S A Bobde and S A Nazeer said the shifting will be done following consultations between doctors at Srinagar's Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
The bench also issued notice to the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration on CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury's plea that there was no common order for Tarigami's detention.
The bench sought a reply within one week and posted the matter for further hearing on September 16.
Yechury told the bench he has no objection if Tarigami, a former CPI(M) MLA, was shifted to AIIMS for better treatment.
"We want to reserve our right to challenge the detention of the former MLA in habeas corpus (bring the person) plea," Yechury told the apex court.
The top court had earlier allowed Yechury to visit Jammu and Kashmir to meet his ailing party colleague and file an affidavit on his health condition.
Besides mentioning Tarigami's health condition in the affidavit, Yechury also referred to other issues that have arisen in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.
The court said all issues will be heard on September 16 after getting responses from the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration.
The court had earlier made it clear that Yechury was allowed to visit Jammu and Kashmir to meet his party colleague only as attention had been drawn to an interim application seeking the court's orders to bring Tarigami to AIIMS.
Iltija can meet Mehbooba Mufti
The Supreme Court also allowed former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti's daughter to meet her in Kashmir, where she is under detention following the revocation of the state's special status a month ago.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi allowed the PDP chief's daughter Iltija to meet her after she submitted in court that she has no problem in going to their Srinagar home but has not been able to move freely in the city.
The bench, also comprising Justices S A Bobde and S A Nazeer, noted that there was no problem in authorities permitting Iltija to travel from Chennai, where she is presently staying, to Srinagar to meet her mother.
As far as moving around in other parts of Srinagar goes, Iltija can do so subject to the permission from district authorities, the bench said in its order.
It also allowed Iltija's plea to meet her mother in private.
In her petition, Iltija said she is concerned about her mother's health as she has not met her for a month.
While advocate Nithya Ramakrishnan was making a submission that the petition was filed on behalf of Iltija seeking access to her mother as she has not met her for long time, Attorney General K K Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said Mehbooba's mother Gulshan Ara and sister Rubaiyya Sayeed visited her on August 29. They met her again later with the permission of the district magistrate, the law officers said.
The solicitor general said the petition is not for the "ostensible purpose" but for other reasons.
After a few minutes of deliberation, the bench said Iltija can be allowed to visit Srinagar and meet her mother since there is no impediment.
Mehbooba is in detention in a hut at Chashmeshahi near the governor's residence Raj Bhavan in Srinagar.
(With inputs from PTI)
