Justice Gavai recuses self from hearing Param Bir plea
Supreme Court judge Justice B.R. Gavai on Tuesday recused himself from hearing former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh’s petition seeking transfer of all the departmental inquir-ies initiated against him by the Maharashtra government either to another state or to an independent agency like the CBI as he says that has no confidence in the probe by the state government.
Justice Vineet Saran, heading the vacation bench also comprising Justice B.R. Gavai, told senior lawyer Puneet Bali appearing for Param Bir Singh that Justice Gavai has “difficulty in hearing the matter”.
The court directed the listing of the matter
before a bench of which Justice Gavai is not a member. Why Justice Gavai has recused himself is not known. Justice Gavai, when he was a practicing lawyer in Bombay, was appointed as advocate general of Maharashtra. He was also a judge of Bombay high court.
The former Mumbai police top cop has alleged that he faced a “witchhunt” after he accused then home minister Anil Deshmukh of telling his subordinate officers, including now suspended assistant inspector Sachin Waze, to collect `100 crore per month for him from Mumbai city, including from those running bars and restaurants.
The former top cop has alleged that the state government’s inquiry officer had threatened him with false cases unless he withdraws the complaint against Mr Deshmukh, which is being probed by the CBI under the Bombay high court’s direction.
The inquiry officer is the director general of Maharashtra Police, Sanjay Pandey. The Maharashtra government has also registered an FIR against Mr Singh for alleged corruption.
In his petition, the former Mumbai police chief says he has submitted the phone conversation transcripts to the CBI in which the inquiry officer is threatening him. He has urged the top court to direct the CBI to act on the representation.
Mr Singh was summarily transferred to head the Home Guards in the state on March 17 and three days later, on March 20, he wrote a letter to the chief minister alleging corruption and misuse of official position by Mr Deshmukh.