Though till late this evening the Chief Justice had not received the transfer order, he suggested constituting a new bench that will look into the Pune dereservation case and adjourned the final hearing to December 15.

After two adjournments in the the last one month, the high-profile PILs, were placed on board this morning, numbered fourth in the Appellate side. Normally, Appellate side matters are taken up first. But today the Original side was heard first and so this matter reached the hearing stage a few seconds before the afternoon recess.

The CJ's courtroom was crowded with a battery of journalists. Both the petitioners - journalist Vijay Kumbhar and corporator Nitin Jagtap - as well asChief Minister Manohar Joshi's son-in-law Girish Vyas, who is one of the main respondents in the petitions, were also present.

The fraternity of lawyers too was keen on witnessing the hearing since the petitions essentially allege that Pune Municipal Corporation and the State Urban Development ministry favoured builder Girish Vyas by dereserving a plot (at Prabhat Road, Pune) for his `Sun-Dew' housing complex. The hearing also holds political significance since the petitions allege that CM Joshi was instrumental in permitting the dereservation.

The Chief Justice, however, called Advocate General C J Sawant (who is appearing for the state government) and the other parties concerned into his chamber and expressed his inability to hear the matter as he had been elevated to the apex court. He said the formal orders of his transfer were awaited and that the matter would therefore come up before another bench on December 15, which would then decide whether to hear it or to constitute a special bench for it,Sawant told Express Newsline.

There was no official confirmation to the press of the CJ's elevation to the apex court even towards the end of the day. The news has been doing the rounds for over a month, but neither the registrar's office nor the prothonotary have confirmed it. Even while the CJ shared the news of his elevation with Sawant in his chamber, the CJ's office had not received the warrant till late last evening.

The PILs filed by Jagtap and journalist Kumbhar were initially heard by the division bench of Chief Justice Shah and Chief Justice Y S Jahagirdar. They were admitted by the bench on September 25 and kept for final hearing on November 4. However, Justice Jahagirdar resigned during the Diwali vacations. Therefore, it was felt that a change in the bench may necessitate a fresh hearing from the admission stage. However, when the matter came up for hearing on November 4, the CJ ruled this out.

The petitions were then placed for final hearing on November 26. But the matter wasadjourned even on that day since Kumbhar's advocate Vinod Bobde sought more time to present an overview of the case.

According to the petitioners, the development control rules were bent to accommodate Vyas's building in a plot originally reserved for a primary school. It is alleged that formal permission of the general body of the municipal corporation was not sought before making changes in the reservation.

All respondent parties, including Vyas, PMC city engineer Madhav Harihar, former Pune municipal commissioner Ramanath Zha, have filed their affidavits denying the charges. The Minister of State for Urban Development Department Ravindra Mane recently went on record saying that Zha was not asked to make any changes in the development plan. However, Zha today filed another affidavit claiming that the state government had informed him twice that approval of the PMC was not necessary for dereserving the plot.

Since the Bombay High Court will not function during the Christmas vacations (December 25 toJanuary 9), the final hearing of the two petitions is likely to start in mid-January. However, the court's interim order restraining Vyas from selling the flats of the new building is still in operation.