HC’s no to govt’s request for probe by sitting judge

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) is learnt to have turned down the request from the Punjab government for a probe into singer-politician Sidhu Moose Wala’s murder by a sitting HC judge.

The HC administration has communicated the decision to the state government, expressing its inability to assign the probe to a sitting judge, a key official said. The HC is short of 38 judges and the case pendency has touched nearly five lakh.

Another official added that it is not common to rope in sitting judges to supervise/probe criminal cases. “We have come across murders of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajeev Gandhi. In Punjab, chief minister Beant Singh was murdered in 1995. Even in such cases of national importance, sitting judges were not entrusted with probe or supervision. There is no such case in recallable past,” the official said, adding that governments as well as private persons have been making such demands, but these are not accepted by courts. The official said courts as well as various governments have entrusted former judges with the monitoring of probes in criminal cases or head judicial commissions, and the Punjab government may also opt for it.

Sidhu Moose Wala was shot dead in Mansa district on May 29. The murder took place a day after two of his security men were withdrawn by the state government. Under fire from various quarters, the state government had written to the HC chief justice, requesting him to get the inquiry conducted by a sitting judge. “The government is concerned about this incident and would like to get to the root of the issue to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice,” principle home secretary Anurag Verma had written in the May 31 letter to the HC.

The official referred to the SC judgment of 2002 in T Fenn Walter and others vs Union of India, in which it was held that a sitting judge of a HC could be appointed to head a commission of inquiry only after he relinquishes his position as a constitutional functionary. It was observed that the appointment of a sitting judge as a commission of inquiry has to be made only on rare occasions if it becomes necessary for the paramount national interest of the country.

COURTS AND GOVERNMENTS HAVE ENTRUSTED EX-JUDGES WITH MONITORING OF PROBES IN CRIMINAL CASES AND THE PUNJAB GOVT MAY ALSO OPT FOR IT, SAID AN OFFICIAL