HC slams CBI’s UT branch,hands probe to Delhi unit

The Bench today ordered that all the records pertaining to the case which are with the CBI and the records of Chandigarh Police in this regard shall be seized forthwith by CBI,Delhi. “We feel that it is a fit case where the investigation of the case should be got conducted afresh and we,thus,entrust the task to CBI,Delhi,keeping in view the fact that the confidence of this Court in CBI’s Chandigarh branch has been eroded somewhat,” reads the order. Mincing no words,the High Court ruled,“We are convinced that it is a case in which intervention of the Court is necessary to restore the confidence of the people in the justice dispensation system which has been blatantly put to sword by officials of the Chandigarh Administration who stood to benefit from scuttling the investigation and,ironically,with the willing hand of the CBI,which apparently has not taken its image of being a premier impartial agency,seriously.”

After perusing the report of senior lawyer R S Cheema,amicus curiae in the case,the HC has ruled that “the CBI took a complete somersault and diluted its stand by saying that changes were arbitrary but not criminal so as to be sufficient to fix criminal conspiracy and that it was not established that candidates who were wrongly called for interview were finally selected and that change of criteria was not motivated”. Also,the Bench took strong exception to CBI’s silence in the case and its failure in not informing the Court about its investigation.

“The CBI had been associated with the matter from the very beginning yet this fact was not disclosed to the Court till the time the enquiry report reached the Court and intimation received from a third person. This is a fact difficult to digest since the CBI was a party to the proceedings and its silence,therefore,is deafening to say the least,” the Bench held.