A Madras High Court judge, who had earlier appeared in a case against former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa, today opted out of hearing a petition by her relating to the 'birthday gift' case filed against her by CBI.

When Ms. Jayalalithaa’s petition came up for hearing before Justice C T Selvam the Justice decided not to hear the case after a memo was filed on her behalf, pointing out that he had appeared against her in his capacity as Additional Public Prosecutor.

Ms.J.Jayalalithaa wanted the petition to be listed before some other judge. The judge then directed the registry to place the petition before the Chief Justice for posting before another judge. Ms. Jayalalithaa in her petition had sought to quash the case against her citing "inordinate and unexplained delay".

Ms. J.Jayalalithaa contented that the charge sheet was liable to be quashed citing a Supreme Court ruling.