The Supreme Court on Thursday deferred by a day the Punjab government’s challenge to a high court order directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register a criminal case into alleged corruption linked to chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s office, refusing to pass any interim order against the probe without first allowing both judges on the bench to examine the matter.
Ghuman and the five co-accused did not appear before the CBI at its Chandigarh office on Wednesday. When the matter was mentioned before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Tuesday, senior counsel Vikas Singh sought an immediate hearing and argued that the high court had ordered a CBI inquiry against state government officers without adequate material. The CJI declined to hear it the same day but said the matter would be accommodated on Wednesday or Thursday.
Singh agreed to the deferment to enable Justice Nagu to go through the state government’s challenge but pressed for the matter to be taken up at the earliest. The ED had alleged that Gohal acted as an intermediary between people seeking favours from the state government and Ghuman, including for transfers and postings of officials, government approvals and arms licences. The development came a day after the CBI’s first steps under the high court’s October 5 order, including searches at eight locations across Punjab and the summoning of Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s officer on special duty (OSD), Rajbir Singh Ghuman, and five others in the corruption case. The case originated in three communications sent by the ED to Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav between July 24 and August 12, raising allegations of corruption involving Ghuman and others.
A bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu agreed to hear the matter on Friday after senior counsel Vikas Singh, appearing for the Punjab government, pointed out the urgency and sought an interim direction that the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) “may not precipitate the matter”. The bench was told that the case file had not reached Justice Nagu, who was sitting as the puisne judge on the bench, in time. Justice Nagu said he would need to examine the file before taking a call on whether he could hear the matter. sources indicated that the accused had also held off on appearing while awaiting the Supreme Court’s consideration of the Punjab government’s plea While the chief minister’s office said Ghuman had not been formally served the summons.
