सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने पंजाब सरकार की CBI जाँच विरोध याचिका को शुक्रवार तक स्थगित किया

SC defers Punjab govt plea against CBI probe into corruption allegations to Friday

The Supreme Court deferred the Punjab government's plea against a CBI probe into corruption allegations linked to the AAP-led government, as the case file reached late.

The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned till Friday the hearing on the Punjab government's plea challenging a high court direction for the CBI to probe corruption allegations against people linked to the AAP-led state government and submit a report within two months.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu deferred the matter as the case file reached late. “We will have it tomorrow. The file hadn't reached my brother judge (Justice Nagu),” Justice Datta said orally.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh appeared for the Punjab government.

The state government had approached the Supreme Court on Monday against the Punjab and Haryana High Court's direction, which came on a petition filed by advocate Nikhil Saraf. The allegations include “cash for transfers” and cash for securing favourable policies.

The petitioner had claimed that no action was taken despite communications sent by the Enforcement Directorate to the Aam Aadmi Party government, arguing that the allegations warranted an independent probe into the functioning of the state government.

The high court had also directed the Punjab Police and state government to hand over all documents related to the case to the CBI.

Challenging the order, the Punjab government argued that the high court had erred in treating information shared under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act as making registration of an FIR “inevitable”, contrary to the Supreme Court's 2022 judgment in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case.

The state further argued that the high court had directed an FIR into decisions concerning transfers, tenders and policies without the prior approval required under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The government also pointed out that general consent to the CBI under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act has been withdrawn in Punjab since November 8, 2020. It argued that the high court had not established any exceptional circumstances warranting the central agency's intervention.

As an alternative, the state urged the Supreme Court to allow the Punjab Bureau of Investigation to complete the preliminary inquiry and submit an action-taken report within a timeframe fixed by the court.

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