Cops goofed up by not seeking prior nod to book Hooda under graft law
VADRADLF CASE Justifying the 2 allegations awaiting adjudication of courts would be a hard task
CHANDIGARH: The Gurgaon police seem to have committed a faux pas by registering a criminal case against former Haryana chief minister (CM) Bhupinder Singh Hooda under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, without taking prior approval of the state government.
Hooda was booked under Section 13 of the PC Act on Saturday in a suspected land deal involving Robert Vadra’s company, Sky Light Hospitality and realty major, DLF. Under the amended Prevention of Corruption Act, the police have to take prior approval of the competent authority before probing an alleged offence by a public servant.
Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the investigation of the offence starts as soon as the FIR is registered.
Officers of the Gurgaon police were clueless when asked about the omission. Manesar deputy commissioner of police Rajesh Kumar, when asked about the omission, feigned ignorance by saying that assistant commissioner of police (ACP) was investigating the matter. However, Manesar ACP Dharambir Singh too could not respond to the query about omission.
Gurgaon commissioner of police KK Rao and DGP BS Sandhu did not respond to text messages and phone calls made to them.
LEGAL EXPERTS’ TAKE
The omission has repercussions, legal experts said, will affect the investigations and maintainability of the first information report (FIR).
“The police when taking prior approval of the competent authority to investigate an alleged offence against a serving or former public servant (in this case Hooda) would have to spell
out the reasons to justify their argument. They have completely overlooked this aspect in this case,” said a legal expert.
Manesar DCP Rajesh Kumar had on Saturday said that no separate inquiry was conducted and the FIR was registered since a cognisable offence was made out in the complaint.
DHINGRA PANEL REPORT NOT MADE PUBLIC DUE TO LITIGATION
Former CM Hooda has been booked under Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (criminal misconduct by a public servant) primarily on two grounds. First, as the then chief minister, Hooda facilitated grant of colonisation license to Sky Light Hospitality despite the
company not having the required financial and technical capability and second, his government helped realty major, DLF, win the allotment of 350 acres in Gurgaon for development of a recreation and leisure project.
The grant of colonisation of license to Sky Light Hospitality was inquired by the Justice SN Dhingra Commission of Inquiry set up by the BJP government in Haryana in May 2015.
The Commission submitted its report to the government in 2016. However, the report could not be made public nor acted upon since the constitution of the Commission was challenged by Hooda in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The matter is still pending before the court.
DLF LAND ALLOTMENT BEFORE THE SC
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had in September 2014 disapproved the allotment of 350 acres to DLF for not being transparent, fair, just and reasonable.
The HC said if the fresh bids were more beneficial for the purpose of maximising the state’s revenue, the allotment in favour of DLF shall stand cancelled and the amount received from it so far shall be returned.
“However, if the fresh process does not attract any bid better than the earlier bid given by DLF, the state government shall be at liberty to revive the allotment of 2010 and act upon it accordingly,” the high court said.
However, the Supreme Court in November 2014 ordered status quo on the matter. The special leave petition is still pending before the apex court.
“Gurgaon police would find it difficult to justify invoking the PC Act in this matter since both the issues are awaiting adjudication before courts,” said a police officer.