Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 14 (IANS) After the Supreme Court Monday denied relief to veteran Congress leader N.D. Tiwari in a paternity suit and asked him to undergo a DNA test, the Delhi High Court directed him to begin the test process April 4.

Tiwari, 85, was told to appear before the high court’s joint registrar who would decide the procedural formalities before the DNA test.

Justice Gita Mittal of the high court fixed April 4 for Tiwari to appear before the joint registrar.

Justice Mittal allowed a plea by petitioner Rohit Shekhar, who sought a modification of the court’s earlier order on the test.

“Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) will conduct the DNA test on Tiwari,” said the court, changing the name of the institution where the test would be done.

Shekhar earlier asked for a modification on the ground that the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) at Hyderabad, which was earlier authorised to conduct the DNA test, was no longer conducting these tests.

A single judge bench of the high court Dec 23, 2010, asked Tiwari to undergo a DNA test on the suit filed by Shekhar, 31, who claimed to be his biological son.

Shekhar claimed he was born out of the leader’s alleged relationship with his mother Ujjwala Sharma.

Tiwari, who held the posts of chief minister of undivided Uttar Pradesh and later Uttarakhand, opposed the paternity suit.

The former Andhra Pradesh governor said he never had any physical relationship with Ujjwala, who is a Congress activist. Shekhar, he said, was not entitled to seek a DNA test as a matter of right. The Supreme Court overruled him.