HC stays Hooda’s trial in AJL case
The trial court had acted on a CBI chargesheet filed in December 2018
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday stayed the trial against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Associated Journal Limited (AJL), the publisher of National Herald newspaper, for illegal allotment of a plot in Panchkula to AJL. The bench of justice Arvind Sangwan acted on the plea by Hooda and AJL. “Two petitions, one from Hooda and the second from AJL, were taken up and the order was passed staying trial,” said Arshdeeep Singh Cheema, who appeared for Hooda. On April 16, a special CBI court framed charges against Hooda and AJL. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also probing the case.
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday stayed the trial against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Associated Journal Limited (AJL), the publisher of National Herald newspaper, for alleged illegal allotment of a plot in Panchkula to AJL.
The high court bench of justice Arvind Sangwan acted on the plea from Hooda and AJL. The detailed order is awaited.
“Two petitions, one from Hooda and the second from AJL, were taken up and the order was passed, staying trial,” said Arshdeeep Singh Cheema, who appeared for the former CM. On April 16, a special CBI court had framed charges against Hooda and AJL.
The trial court had acted on a CBI chargesheet filed in December 2018. The FIR was registered in 2016 during the BJP regime for the alleged offences in 2005 when the Congress leader was the chief minister.
The pleas demanded stay on trial proceedings and quashing of the order on framing of charges.
It has been argued that the order passed by the trial court suffered from selective reading of the material on record and cherry-picking of evidence. The trial court erred in failing to draw a distinction between an error of judgment or drawing a wrongful legal inference and dishonest or corrupt intention, it has been argued.
The pleas further say that the entire case is motivated by political considerations and is an exercise for political vendetta. “It is not clear even from a compressive and critical reading of the chargesheet as to on whose complaint and how the matter came to be enquired into or registered,” the plea from former CM says.
HOODA ALLOWED RE-ALLOTMENT PLOT ON OLD RATES
According to the CBI, a 3,360 square metre institutional plot (C-17) in Sector 6, Panchkula, was allotted by Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) to AJL in 1982, but because the construction was not carried out in 10 years, it was taken back in 1992.
In 1995 and 1996, an appeal and revisions were filed by AJL against the resumption of the plot, but these were also dismissed by the HUDA administrator and Haryana’s financial commissioner, town and country planning. However, when Hooda became the chief minister in 2005, he allowed the re-allotment of the plot to AJL on old rates. Charges were framed under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
ED PROBE IS ALSO UNDERWAY
At the time of the registration of the FIR, late Moti Lal Vora was the chairman of AJL and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul were among the shareholders. The newspaper was launched in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister.
The CBI had alleged that Hooda, who was also the HUDA chairman, “blatantly misused his official position and dishonestly allotted the plot afresh in the guise of re-allotment to AJL at original rates in violation of the HUDA policy vide an order on August 28, 2005. Thus, he caused wrongful loss to HUDA and wrongful gain to AJL.”
An Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe is also underway in the case. Initially, on May 5, 2016, the FIR was registered by the Haryana vigilance bureau regarding allegations of cheating and corruption against Hooda and others. In December 2016, the Haryana government recommended the CBI probe.