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New Delhi, May 11 - Maharashtra Transport Minister Swarup Singh Naik, who was awarded one month simple imprisonment by the Supreme Court for disobeying its orders, Thursday sought review of the sentence.
Naik, who along with Additional Chief Secretary Ashok Khot was found guilty of contempt of court, sought suspension of the sentence.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Naik, made a mention before a bench headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and sought permission to file a review petition.
When counsel contended that once Naik was arrested the review petition would become infructuous, the bench said that it would consider the petition in the chambers Friday.
The Supreme Court Wednesday jailed Naik and Khot for one month for flouting its orders and permitting six sawmills to operate in the state.
In March 1997, the apex court had ordered closure of all unlicensed saw mills. In October 2002, it directed that no state government would permit the operation of a sawmill without the permission of a committee of experts.
The Maharashtra government sought permission in July 2003 for opening sawmills but this was refused. Despite this, the minister and the bureaucrat permitted the opening of six sawmills and thereby committed contempt of court, the bench held.
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