Supreme Court - Daily Orders
S. Gurlad Singh Kahlon vs Union Of India on 16 August, 2017
Bench: Dipak Misra, Amitava Roy, A.M. Khanwilkar
WP(Crl.) 9/2016
1
ITEM NO.6 COURT NO.2 SECTION PIL-W
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Writ Petition (Criminal) No.9/2016
S. GURLAD SINGH KAHLON Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)
WITH W.P.(Crl.) No. 45/2017
Date : 16-08-2017 These petitions were called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DIPAK MISRA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMITAVA ROY
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.M. KHANWILKAR
For Petitioner(s) Mr. Arvind P. Datar, Sr. Adv.
Mr. H.S. Phoolka, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Amarjit Singh Bedi, AOR
Ms. Shikha Sarin, Adv.
Mr. Gagan Preet Sandhu, Adv.
Mr. Varun Chandiok, Adv.
WP 45/17 Mr. Prasoon Kumar, Adv.
Mr. V. K. Sidharthan, AOR
For Respondent(s) Mr. Tushar Mehta, ASG
Ms. Pinky Anand, ASG
Ms. V. Mohna, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, Adv.
Mr. Ravindra Bana, Adv.
Ms. Somya Rathore, Adv.
Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR
Mr. B. Krishna Prasad, AOR
Signature Not Verified Ms. Anju, Adv.
Digitally signed by
CHETAN KUMAR
Date: 2017.08.31
Mr. B.V. Balram Das, Adv.
14:08:33 IST
Reason: Ms. Saudamini S., Adv.
Ms. Kirti Dua, Adv.
WP(Crl.) 9/2016
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UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
On 24th March, 2017, this Court had passed the following order:-
“It is submitted by Mr. Arvind Datar, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner that total cases for scrutiny that have been taken up by the Special Investigation Team are 293 out of which 199 have been closed after scrutiny, 35 have been taken for preliminary inquiry, preliminary inquiry has been completed in respect of 28 cases and seven are still pending for consideration at that stage.
Accordingly to the Special Investigation Team report, 59 cases have been taken up for further investigation out of which 42 have been closed after conducting investigation and, learned counsel would submit, till today four charge sheets have been filed and 13 are pending investigation.
Though initially there was some kind of dispute with regard to the status of closure reports, that is to say, whether they were filed in Court or decision was taken to close the matters, in the course of hearing, it was clarified that a decision was taken by the Special Investigation Team to close 199 matters after scrutiny. As advised at present, we intend to focus on the 199 cases in respect of which decision has been taken by the Special Investigation Team to close and not to launch any prosecution and, therefore, we direct the Union of India to produce the said file(s) pertaining to 199 cases within three weeks hence.” Thereafter, the photostat copies of the records of 199 cases were filed in a sealed cover before this Court.
On 2nd August, 2017, Mr. Tushar Mehta, learned Additional Solicitor General was asked to obtain instructions in the matter. Be it noted here that a suggestion was given at one point of time that the cases where the Special Investigating Team (SIT) has taken a decision to close the WP(Crl.) 9/2016 3 matters after scrutiny, should be verified by a Supervisory Body consisting of two retired Judges of this Court. Mr. Tushar Mehta has left it to the discretion of this Court.
Having heard Mr. Arvind P. Datar and Mr. H.S. Phoolka, learned senior counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Tushar Mehta and Ms. Pinky Anand, learned Additional Solicitors General appearing for the Union of India, we constitute a Supervisor Body of two former Judges of this Court, namely, Mr. Justice J.M. Panchal and Mr. Justice K.S.P. Radhakrishnan, who shall scrutinize the 199 matters which have been closed and express the view whether there was justification to close the cases.
The Supervisory Body is requested to file a report within three months. The said Supervisory Body shall be given requisite assistance, which the Union of India shall provide. The Supervisory Body shall start functioning from 5th of September, 2017. The members of the said Body shall get all the financial benefits as permissible in law.
At this juncture, Mr. H.S. Phoolka has submitted that there are 42 other matters, which have also been closed after conducting investigation. On being asked, Mr. Tushar Mehta very fairly stated that the newly constituted Supervisory Body can look into the justification of such closure.
The sealed cover reports which are filed by the Additional Solicitor General be handed over to Ms. Pinky Anand so that it can be produced before the Supervisory Body.
Let the matter be listed on 6th December, 2017. WP(Crl.) 9/2016 4 Writ Petition (Crl.) No.45 of 2017 Let a copy of this petition be served on Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, learned counsel assisting Mr. Tushar Mehta, learned Additional Solicitor General. That apart, a copy of the petition be served on Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, learned Additional Advocate General for the State of U.P. The Registry is directed to reflect the name of Ms. Aishwarya Bhati in the Cause List on the next date of hearing.
List the matter on 22nd September, 2017.
(Chetan Kumar) (H.S. Parasher)
Court Master Assistant Registrar