The Supreme Court today put a stay on Jharkhand High Court order for a CBI investigation into the Jharkhand Assembly appointment scam. During the hearing, the Supreme Court observed that the High Court's order to initiate this probe was “unreasonable”.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking an investigation into alleged illegal appointments in the Jharkhand Assembly was filed by one Shiv Shankar Sharma, who claimed that there were irregularities in appointments made between 2005 and 2007. On September 23, the High Court had ordered a CBI investigation into the matter.
A commission led by Justice Vikramaditya Prasad had initially been established to examine these appointments, and it submitted its findings to the Governor in 2018. Subsequently, the Governor directed the Assembly Speaker to take appropriate action, but no action has been taken so far.
The High Court bench, led by Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad, ordered a CBI investigation, prompting the state government and the Assembly to appeal to the Supreme Court.
On October 12, the Jharkhand High Court granted the Assembly Secretary one last opportunity to produce the report from the Justice Vikramaditya Prasad Commission, which had been submitted to the then-Governor (now President) Droupadi Murmu in 2018.
The commission investigated extensive irregularities in the appointment of over 500 employees during the 2005-2007 period.
A division bench, consisting of Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice Ananda Sen, set November 9 as the next hearing date after the Assembly Secretary’s counsel informed the court that a letter had been sent to the Justice SJ Mukhopadhyay Commission requesting the report from the Justice Vikramaditya Commission.
Earlier, the court had warned the Assembly Secretary of potential criminal contempt proceedings if the report was not submitted by October 12, noting that the delay obstructed justice.
Follow us
