Gill panel exceeded jurisdiction, says HC

The Punjab and Haryana high court has dismissed a plea of former IAS officer Mandeep Singh, booked by the vigilance bureau in 2015 in a corruption case.

Acting on Singh’s plea against the FIR, the Justice Mehtab Singh Gill (retd) Commission of Inquiry had recommended re-investigation of the case by an independent agency.

The high court bench of justice RK Jain said the commission at the most could have recommended the government on the basis of its findings as to how the inquiry has not been fairly conducted but had no competence to adjudicate upon the issue of reinvestigation/further investigation and that too by an independent agency or by an SIT but not by the vigilance bureau.

“…Commission has exceeded its jurisdiction while passing the impugned order on August 2, 2017, which does not deserve to be accepted at any cost by the state government and hence the prayer made by the petitioner for the issuance of a direction to the respondents to accept the recommendations of the commission is not made out,” the high court bench said, dismissing the plea.

The Gill panel was set up by the Capt Amarinder Singh government for looking into false cases registered during the previous SAD-BJP regime against officials.

Singh approached the commission in May 2017 upon which the panel had recommended re-investigation by an independent agency. He approached court in February 2018 demanding that recommendations of the commission should be implemented.

After its probe, the vigilance bureau had alleged that Singh amassed assets worth ₹9.7 crore between 1998 and 2014, whereas his income was ₹4.13 crore from his known source of income. He was arrested in February 2017 and the vigilance bureau filed a challan in March 2017. He got bail in June 2017.