S.S Negi
Legal CorrespondentNew Delhi, October 9
Acting swiftly the Punjab government today moved the Supreme Court to challenge the High Court’s yesterday order granting permission to former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to go abroad even when Vigilance Bureau wanted to question him in connection with the Ludhiana City Centre scam and has sought cancellation of his bail.
As per yesterday’s order, passed by a single judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Amarinder Singh was permitted to go to Dubai from October 11 to striking a deal for purchasing property there and after that to
the UK for medical treatment. He was permitted to stay abroad till November 30.
Challenging the order, the Punjab government filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the apex court registry just before its closure today and plans to make a special mention of it tomorrow morning for urgent hearing to seek a stay on the permission granted to the former CM to go abroad, the state’s counsel said.
The SLP, moved by Punjab’s standing counsel Ajay Pal and Additional Advocate General K.K Khurana, raised the questions on the validity of the order, particularly on ground laid by Amarinder Singh in his plea that he wanted to visit Dubai for purchasing some property, saying it could not be described a “cogent” reason to allow him to go abroad when he faced a criminal case.
On the question of medical treatment, the government said the former CM had “failed to aver that the claimed illness cannot be treated in India and no cogent material is on record to return such findings.”
Both the reasons could not be held as “valid” grounds for granting the permission, the SLP claimed, while seeking to set it aside the impugned order.
In an interim application submitted with the SLP, the government has said it was yet to get the copy of the High Court order and in the absence of the same, the state’s plea be heard, considering the urgency of the matter.
According to the SLP, the High Court had “acted in excess of its jurisdiction vested” under Section 438(2) of the Code of Criminal procedure, while allowing the plea of Amarinder Singh, specially as the state’s appeal against an earlier order of the High Court granting him bail, was pending before the apex court.
“During the 200-day period since the registration of the FIR on March 23, 2007 till date, the former CM had been abroad for nearly 70 days and granting him permission to stay abroad for another 50 days by the High Court, would hamper the investigation when the Vigilance Bureau has not yet been able to question him properly due to bail protection given to him”, the SLP said.
