Aryan Grover
Anil Deshmukh, former Maharashtra Home Minister, and the Maharashtra government have approached the Supreme Court, challenging the High Court’s order for a CBI investigation into the corruption allegations against him, levelled by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.
In the special leave petition filed by Deshmukh, it has been stated, “Presently, the CBI today is being headed by an interim Director, the legality of which is also sub judice before this court. This is also factor that should have been taken into account, before the court passed the order that it did.”
The appeal also states that the high court order raises issues of “seminal importance”, which have an impact not only on the federal structure of the country and polity, but also the manner and institutions through which investigations should be conducted.
The plea also raises questions over the ex-parte procedure that has been adopted by the High Court and also taken into consideration the fact that the government of Maharashtra withdrew its consent for the CBI to investigate matters within its jurisdiction.
The plea said, “To record in a judicial order, that the police in Maharashtra cannot be trusted with investigating matters of this nature, in the context of allegations of a police officer, proceeded on an assumption, which is unsustainable, and without any demonstrable reason.”
The plea seeks a stay on the High Court order as interim relief is to be heard by a division bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Hemant Gupta.