HPCA case: Himachal law officer defends Anurag Thakur in SC against state govt
NEW DELHI: The BJP government in Himachal Pradesh on Monday fielded its law officer in the Supreme Court against the state’s advocate general to defend party MP Anurag Thakur and the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) as a “special case”.
The state government told the SC that it wanted to withdraw HPCA cases in the wake of a cabinet decision of January 17 deciding “to withdraw all politically motivated cases” instituted by the previous government “in the larger interest of governance”.
A bench of justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, however, put a spoke in the state government’s attempt to withdraw the HPCA cases, asking whether the cabinet decision applied to these cases.
“We don’t care what your policy is. You have to tell us specifically whether the cabinet decision applies to these cases,” the bench told advocate general Ashok Sharma, who was appearing for the state government.
Sharma said he would take specific instruction on the issue and sought some time from the apex court.
Senior advocate PS Patwalia, along with additional advocate general Abhinav Mukherjee appearing for Thakur, HPCA and others, said he too needed some time to go through the documents. He said once the lease amount of ₹1.26 crore was accepted by the state government, there is no criminality left in the case. To this, the bench said, these sort of arguments can only be considered at the stage of final arguments when it will have to pass an order on merit. The advocate general then intervened and said the cabinet decision will not cover these cases and due procedure under section 321 of CRPC (withdrawal from prosecution) will have to be followed.
The bench posted the matter for next hearing on April 17.
Mukherjee was last month appointed by the state government to represent it in the SC as additional advocate general. He had, however, written to the state government seeking permission to continue appearing in certain cases, which included the HPCA matters against the state government.
The SC had on January 19 asked the state government whether it would withdraw the criminal cases lodged against BJP MP Anurag Thakur and HPCA for alleged irregularities in the cricket stadium in Dharamshala.