HCS judicial paper leak case: HC forms fivemember bench

HEARING Exam for 109 HCSjudicial posts was held on July 16 last year; in August, an HC probe panel found that the paper was leaked

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday constituted a five-judge bench presided over by chief justice Krishna Murari to hear the the Haryana Civil Service (judicial) paper leak case of July 2017.

Other members on the bench are justice Arun Palli, who sits in division bench with justice Murari and three judges hearing the matter earlier — justice Rajesh Bindal, justice Rajan Gupta and justice GS Sandhawalia.

The examination for 109 Haryana Civil Service (HCS-judicial) posts was conducted on July 16 last year. Following a petition in August 2017, an HC probe panel had found that the paper was leaked. Former high court registrar (recruitment) Balwinder Kumar Sharma and two women were named as the main accused.

The police have so far arrested six persons in the case including Sharma and two candidates Sunita and Sushila, purported to be main accused of the scam.

The police have now filed a chargesheet against these accused.

In June, Balwinder Sharma had filed an application before the three-judge bench and questioned as to how this bench was constituted and also sought to know why the single judge who initially dealt with the matter when the controversy broke, was not associated with the bench.

The full bench was constituted by an administrative order and not by any judicial order, which is against the high court rules, Sharma had told court.

Further, he had alleged that he was being framed and apprehended the role of some higher ups. He had also questioned as to how same bench directed registration of an FIR against Sharma, is monitoring the probe and also hearing bail plea of Sharma, which is against the principal of natural justice, the application said. The full bench had then asked Sharma to approach the chief justice.

CONGRESS LEADER APPLIES FOR BAIL

Meanwhile, an accused in the case, local congress leader Sunil Kumar alias Titu has filed a bail application.

He was arrested by the police on May 22 for alleged involvement in the scam for disclosing contents of the paper to beneficiaries.

Last week, the police filed a challan against Titu as well. The bail application will be taken up by the court on Thursday.

As per the plea, another accused arrested by the police, Ayushi, disclosed Kumar’s name “under influence and pressure of the police.”

It adds that even during police remand, the police failed to collect any evidence against him.