A bench of justices Altamas Kabir and H L Dattu reserved the verdict after hearing the Attorney General G E Vahanvati, counsel for the Yadavs, and the petitioner Vishwanath Chaturvedi.
The SC had ordered a CBI inquiry on March 1, 2007, into the alleged accumulation of disproportionate assets by Yadav, his sons Akhilesh and Prateek and daughter-in-law Dimple, on a public interest litigation (PIL) by an advocate Vishwanath Chaturvedi, reportedly a Congress leader.
Unlike the precedent of hearing review petitions in the judges' chambers, the petition is being heard in the open court at the request of Yadav.
Seeking to review its order, Yadav and his family members submitted that there was no evidence against them who are being harassed by political adversaries.
Senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Yadavs, assailed the apex court's earlier order claiming it would "set a dangerous precedent" of allowing political opponents to file "false and frivolous" petitions against their detractors.
During the arguments, Vahanvati, while refraining from going into the merits of the allegations against the Yadavs, cited a number of judicial pronouncements to drive home the point that the apex court has powers to order a CBI inquiry in "exceptional cases."
Published 17 February 2011, 12:47 IST