New Delhi, August 21
The Supreme Court has stayed the Punjab and Haryana High Court order seeking an affidavit from Punjab Governor Gen S.F. Rodrigues in his personal capacity as the Administrator of Chandigarh whether he had instructed its counsel to depose in a particular manner in the Dera Sacha Sauda case.
The stay was granted by a Bench, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan on the plea of Chandigarh administration lawyer in the Supreme Court Kamini Jaiswal after she made a mention of the matter.
The high court Bench, headed by Chief Justice Vijender Jain, is scheduled to hear the case tomorrow, which had threatened to attain a sort of confrontation between the judiciary and the executive.
The court had issued the direction on July 19 after it was not satisfied with the affidavit of Chandigarh Administration Home Secretary
and its lawyer Anupam Gupta on the issue.
In view of this, the High Court had directed the Governor, who is Administrator of Chandigarh and UT Home Secretary, to file their affidavits within four weeks, while fixing the hearing for August 22.
The High Court was angry with the statement of Gupta that it had no jurisdiction to intervene in the dera issue.
The matter had come before the High Court in a petition on May 31 after the controversy had arisen.
Jaiswal sought stay of the High Court direction for filing of the affidavit by the Governor on the ground that he could not be asked to file in the personal capacity.
