CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Government on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order directing a CBI probe into corruption allegations linked to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s office.
The allegations include “cash for transfers, cash for getting favourable policies, cash for tenders" and such other illegal activities raised by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in three letters to the Punjab Director General of Police (DGP).
The High Court had directed the CBI to submit a report within two months.
The State government filed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the High Court order at 1.42 am on Tuesday, according to the apex court website. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant agreed to take it up on Wednesday or Thursday after the plea was mentioned for urgent listing, with the State alleging that the matter was linked to the ensuing Assembly elections.
Senior counsel Vikas Singh urged the CJI, “During election time, these kinds of cases are being trumped up. It's a clear case of federal structure being violated.” The CJI replied, “We will try tomorrow, otherwise the day after, definitely."
The SLP challenges the High Court’s Monday's order, which came on a PIL filed by advocate Nikhil Saraf. He had submitted that no action had been taken despite the ED sending communications to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. It was contended that the allegations warranted an independent investigation as they raised serious questions about the functioning of the State government.
A High Court Bench comprising Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor had on Monday directed the CBI to register a criminal case to probe allegations against Rajbir Singh Ghuman, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Chief Minister Mann. It also directed the State government and Punjab Police to provide all assistance to the CBI for conducting a fair probe.
Earlier, the ED had asked the Punjab Police to register a case to probe the corruption allegations against Ghuman.
After the High Court order, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema had said that the State government decided to challenge it, citing the withdrawal of general consent by the previous Punjab government to CBI investigations in the State.
“The decision to withdraw general consent was taken by the previous government, and in this context AAP would approach the apex court,’’ he said.
In November 2020, the then Congress government in Punjab had withdrawn the general consent given to the CBI for investigations in the State.