HCS (Judicial) Paper Leak: Punjab and Haryana High Court extends bail of accused by 2 months

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, May 6

More than four years after the scrapping of the “HCS (Judicial Branch) Preliminary Examination 2017” following the allegations of paper leakage, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has extended by two months the bail granted by it to the accused in

the case for enabling them to seek the confirmation of the same from the courts of competent jurisdiction in Delhi.

All accused in the case, including the High Court’s then Registrar (Recruitment) Balwinder Kumar Sharma, were granted interim bail nearly three years ago. The direction to move the Delhi court by five-Judge Bench of Justice GS Sandhawalia, Justice MS Ramachandra Rao, Justice Arun Palli, Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Deepak Sibal follows the transfer of the matter to the court in the national Capital.

Another petition filed by the UT Administration for quashing of the order dated April 10, 2018, passed by Chandigarh Additional Sessions Judge, regarding the preservation of the call details record of the special investigation team, too, would be heard by the Delhi court. UT Additional Public Prosecutor Charanjit Singh Bakhshi told the Bench that the UT would not press the petition in view of the orders passed by the apex court on a related plea and reserved the liberty to challenge the same before the Delhi High Court.

The Bench asserted that it was not disputed that the charge had already been framed on January 31, 2020, after the completion of the investigation in view of the High Court order dated January 10, 2020, in this regard. Resultantly, the trial was pending before the Competent Court at Delhi.

The Bench added the purpose of monitoring the proceedings had now been rendered infructuous, since the FIR had been lodged, the investigation completed and charge framed. “Liberty is granted to the applicants to seek confirmation of the bail before the Courts of Competent Jurisdiction at Delhi as interim orders have been operating in favour of the accused for a period of over three years,” the Bench asserted.

Soon after the examination was conducted, a candidate, Suman, filed a petition for the registration of a criminal case to uncover the scam. Suman alleged she was contacted by two other candidates Sushila and Sunita, claiming they had the examination paper. Suman also alleged that at least two questions were disclosed to her a day prior to the examination.

109 posts were to be filled

The examination for filling 109 posts in the subordinate judiciary was conducted on July, 2017. A Punjab and Haryana High Court committee, through the Haryana Public Service Commission, had invited applications for filling up the posts.