New Delhi: The Supreme Court has issued notices to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and several Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders on a petition filed by the Chandigarh Administration challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that quashed a rioting case arising from a 2020 protest against the hike in electricity tariffs.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohan sought responses from Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, Gurmeet Singh, Meet Hayer, Baljinder Kaur, Aman Arora, and other respondents.
The notices were issued after Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing for the Chandigarh Administration, argued that the High Court had erred in quashing the criminal proceedings.
Raju submitted that the protest amounted to an unlawful assembly and contended that the respondents had been specifically named in the FIR registered in connection with the incident.
The Chandigarh Administration has challenged the High Court’s decision to quash the rioting case, and the Supreme Court has sought replies from the respondents before taking up the matter further.
