The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday did not file the governor's sanction on prosecution of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and five others in the Rs 175 crore Taj Corridor case, the hearing of which was deferred till May 23 by a designated court in Lucknow.

Judge Rekha Dikshit fixed the new date for hearing the case after one of the accused, a senior official, questioned the court's competence to direct the CBI to file the sanction for prosecution of public servants accused in the case.

The CBI, directed by the court in February to produce by today the governor's sanction for prosecuting the accused, did not file the report.

The agency sought time to reply to former environment principal secretary R K Sharma's intervention application in which he questioned the court's competence to seek sanction for prosecution against public servants.

Sharma's counsel Nandit Shrivastava challenged the February 15 order of the designated court, saying it could not issue such an order.

He also wanted to be heard on the matter now. CBI counsel R K Tiwari pleaded that the agency required time to file its reply to Sharma's application. But he maintained that Sharma had no locus standi at this moment in the matter.

Two days before the counting of votes in the Assembly elections on May 11, outgoing chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had sent the CBI's request for sanction to prosecute Mayawati to the governor.

The issue of filing of sanction did not come up before the court nor did the court make any mention of it during the hearing. CBI sources said the agency has not obtained sanction for prosecuting Mayawati and others in the case.