HC: File stay vacation pleas in pending cases against lawmakers of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh

Chandigarh, August 19

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today warned “senior officers” that it would be left with no option but to order their personal appearance in case applications for vacation of stay were not filed in pending cases against sitting and erstwhile parliamentarians and legislators of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

The Bench of Justice Rajan Gupta and Justice Karamjit Singh also called for a list of civil and criminal cases pending before the High Court against MPs/MLAs. Details were also called for regarding cases pending against MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains after rapping the state of Punjab for not coming out with a response to the court query regarding alleged police inaction in a rape case against him. The Bench asserted it was not inclined to grant further time, but was granting an opportunity purely in the interests of justice.

“Additional Advocate-General SPS Tinna would be at liberty to seek instructions from the Director General of Police, Punjab, and apprise the court about the number of cases pending against Simarjeet Singh Bains and stage of investigation after registration of a case against him by virtue of the order passed by the magistrate concerned at Ludhiana under Section 156(3) of the CrPC,” the Bench asserted.

As the case “In Re: Special Courts for MPs/MLAs” for monitoring the progress of cases pending against the MP/MLAs came up for resumed hearing, the amicus curiae or the friend of the court, Rupinder S Khosla, pointed out that investigating/prosecuting agencies were required to move an application for vacation of stay in all those cases where stay was operating in view of a Supreme Court order on the issue.

The Bench observed the counsel representing various investigating and prosecution agencies assured the court that the matter would be looked into and earnest efforts made before the next date of hearing. “This court has no hesitation in making it clear that in case needful is not done, it has no option but to seek personal appearance of all the senior officers who are entrusted with supervising the stage of pending investigations/trials,” the Bench concluded. — TNS