Manesar land scam: Trial court can summon additional accused on prima facie evidence: HC
Chandigarh:
Punjab and Haryana high court
has made it clear that if the material placed on record, taken cumulatively and in its entirety, gives rise to a strong suspicion of involvement of a person in the commission of the offence, the trial court is empowered to summon such person as an additional accused to face the trial.
"Once such a prima facie view is formed, the trial must be allowed to proceed in accordance with law, thereby granting the prosecution the legitimate opportunity to prove its case through due process," the HC has held.
Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul of the HC has passed these orders while dismissing several petitions filed by former bureaucrats and former officials of Haryana govt challenging the decision of special
CBI court
Panchkula summoning them in connection with the
Manesar land scam
.
Justice Kaul has also clarified that barring former IAS officer Rajeev Arora, no sanction under Section 19 of the
Prevention of Corruption Act
would be required for all other officers summoned as additional accused by CBI court in the case.
On the argument that the petitioners were summoned on an application moved by co-accused Murari Lal Tayal, the HC has clarified that the said application was dismissed by the court. "The court may exercise this power suo motu on the basis of its own appreciation of the material on record," held the court.
On Arora, the judge observed in its detailed order: "The mere act of forwarding such material, cannot, by any standard, be construed as a judicial mandate to accord prosecution sanction. Any inference that the court has directed the grant of sanction is plainly untenable and stems from a misreading of the order.".
On Dec 1, 2020, the then special CBI judge, Jagdeep Singh, had summoned Arora, who had served as MD, HSIIDC, Surjeet Singh, chief town planner, HSIIDC, Dhare Singh, chief town planner, Kulwant Singh Lamba, deputy superintendent (town and country planning) and D R Dhingra.
The main allegations in the case are that hundreds of acres of land acquired from farmers of Manesar and adjoining villages in Gurugram district at a low rate for "public purpose" was later licensed to real estate companies/builders/colonizers after bestowing out-of-term favours and concessions. Former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh and several others are also accused in this case.
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