Chaini Parwani –
Published On: December 06, 2021 at 19:06 IST
The Supreme Court on Monday restrained the Maharashtra police from filing chargesheets in the First Information Report (FIR) against the now suspended Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh but permitted the probe to continue.
The Bench comprising of Justice SK Kaul and Justice MM Sundresh were hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by Singh against the September 16 Order of the Bombay High Court which had dismissed Param Bir’s Writ Petition.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, representing the Central Bureau of Investigation, prayed that the present FIRs should also be assigned to the CBI.
Further Senior Advocate Darius Kambatta, representing the State of Maharashtra, submitted that Singh’s petition is not maintainable as it was a service dispute against Departmental Enquiries, which should be contested before the Central Administrative Tribunal.
Kambatta then told the bench that the Bombay High Court has reserved orders on a Writ Petition filed by the State of Maharashtra seeking a Court-monitored probe in these matters, as the present CBI Director Subodh Kumar Jaiswal was the Director General of Police (DGP) of Maharashtra at the relevant time when the contentious transfers and postings took place.
Further the Senior Counsel highlighted that the CBI Director therefore would at best be a witness, and can even be an accused in the case, and hence the State has doubts about fairness of the CBI probe.
Furthermore, Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi submitted that the CBI had raised preliminary objections to the Writ Petition filed by the State.
Senior Advocate Puneet Bali, appearing for Singh, presented before the Bench that Maharashtra Government was acting with “mala-fides” against his client.
The Bench highlighted “Since the petitioner has joined the investigation, let probe continue but no challan be issued.”
The Court adjourned the Matter for a further Hearing on January 11.