CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Friday dismissed IAS officer Bishnupada Sethi’s petition seeking quashing of the ongoing CBI probe over his alleged link with a senior officer of a central PSU who was arrested in a Rs 10 lakh bribery case.
On December 8 last year, the CBI officials arrested the group general manager of the PSU, on charges of taking Rs 10 lakh bribe from a real estate company promising them work orders. Sethi’s name came up during the PSU official’s interrogation. A CBI team conducted a search operation at his official residence in Bhubaneswar on February 18.
Sethi along with his wife and daughter filed a petition on February 24. Taking up the petition for hearing the next day, Justice SK Panigrahi had passed an interim order stating, “No coercive action shall be taken against the petitioners till the next date.”
However, in the judgment on Friday, Justice Panigrahi dismissed Sethi’s petition saying it was devoid of merit. “The petition is dismissed as premature and not maintainable, the investigation being at an ongoing stage. The CBI is at liberty to continue its investigation in accordance with law, without any interference from this court. The reliefs sought by the petitioners to interdict or quash the FIR/investigation are refused.”
The HC also expressed its disapproval over Sethi’s conduct. “As a senior IAS officer, petitioner 1 (Bishnupada Sethi) is expected to set a high example in upholding the law. The court is constrained to note its disapproval of the petitioner’s attempt to invoke the extraordinary writ jurisdiction in the midst of an investigation, without exhausting the ordinary processes provided under law. Such attempts smack of forum-shopping and an impatience with the ordinary course of justice,” Justice Panigrahi remarked.
“There is no showing that the CBI’s investigation is transgressing any legal provision; hence this court must not micro-manage or prematurely halt it. Investigative agencies must be allowed the operational freedom to pursue leads and uncover facts, especially in matters involving serious economic offences and corruption,” Justice Panigrahi further observed.