The Punjab government announced that they have challenged the Punjab and Haryana High Court order for the CBI to register a case and investigate allegations of corruption in the Chief Minister’s office led by Bhagwant Mann, which was deferred on Thursday by the Supreme Court. Now it will be heard before a bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu on Friday.
The state government had appealed to the High Court on October 5 to overturn the order. The High Court had asked the CBI to probe allegations made by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the issue of people associated with the Chief Minister’s Office and handed over a status report within 2 months.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for Punjab, expressed its urgency and requested a bench of the Supreme Court grant an interim order, directing the CBI and ED to not take any further coercive action pending hearing of the state’s challenge.
But Justice Datta said it was not possible to grant such interim order and Justice Nagu had not yet had the opportunity to go through the petition. The court later agreed to hear the case in Friday.
The cases under investigation are related on allegations of corruption occurring related to transfers and postings, tenders, policy making processes and administrative issues. A letter from the ED to the Punjab DGP, showing the reflections of the investigation officer, had been received by the High Court and this is why the CBI order was issued.
The case has become significant as the elections to the Punjab Assembly are scheduled for in the coming weeks. The investigation relates to allegations which are still in the ongoing legal process while the Mann government has allegsed that central agencies are being used for political motives.
In this regard, CBI has already registered an FIR against Rajbir Singh Ghuman, who works as OSD for Mann and others after the High Court’s instructions.