A Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sheel Nagu deferred the hearing to October 9 as the file reached late. “We will have it tomorrow. The file hadn’t reached my brother judge (Justice Nagu),” Justice Datta said.
As senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing the Punjab Government, sought an interim order against precipitative steps, Justice Datta wondered how such an order could be passed when Justice Nagu did not get the opportunity to read the files.
The Punjab Government moved the Supreme Court on October 6 challenging Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order for a CBI probe into allegations of corruption linked to the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s office and to submit a report in two months. It has sought a stay on the operation of the High Court’s order pending final adjudication of its petition.
“During election time, these kinds of cases are being trumped up… It’s a clear case of federal structure being violated,” Singh had told a Bench led by CJI Surya Kant on Tuesday.
The Punjab Government’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the High Court October 5 order— which came on a PIL filed by advocate Nikhil Saraf—was filed at around 1:42 am on Tuesday.
A High Court Bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor had on Monday directed the CBI to register a criminal case to probe into allegations against Rajbir Singh Ghuman, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Chief Minister Mann. It had also directed the State of Punjab and the Punjab Police to provide all assistance to the CBI for conducting a fair probe.
Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate had asked the Punjab Police to register case to probe the allegations of corruption against Ghuman
One Nitin Gohal acted as an intermediary between people seeking favours from the government, and Ghuman, the ED alleged. The allegations related to transfers, access to confidential government documents, facilitation of arms licences and other benefits.
After the police failed to register an FIR, Saraf filed a PIL highlighting the inaction.
The High Court on Monday said the information shared by the ED prima facie conveyed commission of cognizable offences in high public office which has the potential of endangering public interest.
Noting that only some sort of a “preliminary inquiry” was conducted since the sharing of information by the ED on August 3, the High Court said the Punjab Police was delaying the matter on the pretext of seeking legible copies of ED documents.
While notices were issued to many persons, Mann’s OSD was not asked to join the probe, it pointed out.
“The material shared by ED prima facie indicated involvement of high public officials in acts of corruption and at least required registering of FIR so that proper investigation in the matter would be carried out. This is not the response of the Punjab Police,” the High Court said.
