New Delhi: Delhi High Court Joint Registrar Deepak Garg on Tuesday fixed February 19 for the counsels of Congress leader N.D. Tiwari and the man claiming to be his biological son to decide on when and how to collect Tiwari's blood sample for a DNA test.
As per the court directive, Tiwari's counsel and Rohit Shekhar, the petitioner, on Tuesday appeared before Garg to complete the formalities in the paternity suit.
The high court on Monday had given Tiwari a day to complete the formalities regarding the DNA test on the petition filed by Shekhar (31), who claims to be his biological son born out of an alleged relationship between his mother Ujjwala Sharma and the Congress leader.
Tiwari, who had held the posts of chief minister of undivided Uttar Pradesh and later Uttarakhand, opposed the paternity suit.
Tiwari, who last year resigned as Andhra Pradesh governor in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct, countered the claims and said he never had any physical relationship with Ujjwala, who is also a Congress activist. Rohit, he said, was not entitled to seek a DNA test as a matter of right.
The high court on December 23 had ordered Tiwari to undergo the DNA test to ascertain Shekhar's claim.
The single-member bench of Justice S. Ravindra Bhatt said: "We cannot disregard the right of a child to know about his or her biological father."