It was an unexpected twist. The Kanchi Shankaracharya’s counsel requested the Supreme Court not to entertain a writ petition filed on the seer’s behalf, seeking his release in the Sankararaman murder case, when it came up for hearing on Friday.Senior counsel M.N.Krishnamani contended that only advocate Krishna Kumar was authorised to file such a petition. ‘‘We have the authorisation from the Kancheepuram Math and the thumb impression of Swami Jayendra Saraswati for filing appropriate petition before the Supreme Court and none else could file such a petition,’’ M.N. Krishnamani told a bench comprising Chief Jutice R.C. Lahoti, G.P. Mathur and Justice P.P. Naolekar.When the authorisation and the vakalatnama from the Kanchi math were passed on to the bench, the Chief Justice asked Krishnamani as to why there was a thumb impression instead of the signature of Shankaracharya. Krishnamani said Shankaracharyas, by tradition, do not sign and instead only give their thumb impressions.At this juncture, the bench turned to the counsel for the writ petitioner and asked him as to how he could file the petition on behalf of the Acharya without his authorisation. The counsel told the bench that the jail authorities were not permitting him to see the seer and hence the hitch. Acharya denied bail in assault case
