Castigating the Punjab Police for failing to submit cancellation of an FIR that has been pending for 18 years, the Punjab and Haryana High Court imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the state. It ordered that Rs 25,000 should be paid to the petitioner and the remaining amount should be deposited in the Punjab State Legal Services Authority's disaster relief fund.
The court also directed departmental proceedings against the "delinquent officers in right earnest" and asked the Punjab DGP to submit a compliance report within 90 days, failing which punitive consequences would follow. "The corrective circular issued by police must not remain a mere paper directive but be effectively implemented," it said.
Condemning the delay, Justice Sumeet Goel observed the state's sovereign power to prosecute was "a solemn public trust" that must be exercised with “diligence and transparency”. "Discretionary powers cannot become an instrument of arbitrariness," he said, citing Lord Halsbury's dictum that discretion must align with "reason and justice, not private opinion or humour". "The case in hand is an unsoothing illustration of lack of due diligence, reflective of an apathetic approach. Such lethargic conduct can only be curbed if courts adopt an institutional approach which penalises such comportment," said Justice Goel.
He was disposing of a petition filed by Kimti Lal Bhagat concerning an FIR dated August 9, 2007, at Jalandhar. Though the matter was amicably resolved between the complainant and the accused soon after the FIR was lodged, the police, even after preparing the cancellation report, failed to present it in court all these years. The report was finally presented in a trial court on August 22 this year after the HC’s intervention.
The state, through an affidavit filed by DGP Yadav, admitted lapses and revealed that crucial case files went missing. The affidavit said the officials responsible for the lapse had long retired since, making departmental action time-barred. A show-cause notice has been issued to Parminder Singh, now DCP (Law and Order), Ludhiana, for supervisory lapses.
Follow us
