NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court, on Friday, directed the special judge under the Prevention of Corruption Act to decide whether the Haryana police was right in closing for lack of proof of the corruption allegations against Chief Minister Bhajan Lal. Justices S.R.Pandian and KJ.Reddy took the unprecedented step of some (on their own) examining and squashing the July 22,1991 order of the magistrate accepting the June 18,1991, cancelation report of the police stating that no proof had been found of the corruption charges made against the Chief Minister in the FIR of November 22,1987.
The cancellation report had been submitted by the police to a magistrate not empowered to examine it when Bhajan Lal was the Chief Minister.
The judges have set aside the order of the magistrate accepting the cancellation report by pointing out that he should have sent it to the special magistrate. They have directed all the records to be sent to the special magistrate. The judges took the unusual step of taking so moto examination of the magistrate’s order accepting the police cancellation report after condemning the ‘‘walk out” staged from the court by Dharam Pal the complainant against Bhajan Lal. The judges pointed out that Dharam Pal had in a public interest litigation fought all the way 1o the Supreme Court for investigation of the charges made by him against Bhajan Lal.
He, therefore, bad no “justification” in requesting the investigating officer not 10 probe into the allegations. He should have instead Submitted himself to the discipline of the apex court.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 8, 1993
