Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday directed that a petition filed by Punjab chief minister’s officer on special duty (OSD) Rajbir Singh Ghuman, seeking to quash the CBI investigation against him, be placed before the Chief Justice for appropriate orders.
Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi said a division bench comprising Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor had ordered the registration of an FIR in the matter on October 5 and was also monitoring the investigation. The order has been challenged in the Supreme Court, where the matter is pending.
Justice Bedi said it would be appropriate for his bench to refrain from hearing the petition in view of the earlier division bench’s directions and the pending challenge before the Supreme Court.
Ghuman’s petition seeks to quash further proceedings until the mandatory approval required under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act is obtained. He alleged that the CBI conducted an unlawful search at his residence in Sangrur on October 6 without securing the required approval.
According to the petition, the CBI registered the FIR at 11.50pm on October 5 and obtained a search warrant within 24 hours. Ghuman alleged that the search was conducted in the absence of both him and his family members.
The petition further claimed that no proposal seeking approval under Section 17A had been sent to the Punjab government and that no such approval was in place when the search and seizure were carried out.
Ghuman’s counsel argued that the investigation and any subsequent proceedings must comply with the law and that the CBI was required to adhere to the statutory safeguards under Section 17A.
These are allegations made in the petition; the court has not ruled on their merits in the order referring the matter to the Chief Justice.
