Irregularities in house allotment in Chandigarh Police department: HC to wait for internal probe report

Allegations include gross misuse of discretionary power by the director general of police in adopting pick-and-choose method when allocating houses to police personnel

In the case of out-of-turn house allotment in the police department, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday kept its decision on ordering FIR on hold, observing that it would wait for the report of the internal investigation being done by the UT administration.

The court, while taking note of the fact that an internal probe was underway, observed that it would be just and appropriate to await the final outcome of the pending inquiry and posted the matter for further hearing on December 2. (HT FILE)

The high court was hearing a plea from a cop, Jagjeet Singh, who had demanded a CBI probe, alleging gross misuse of discretionary power by the director general of police in adopting pick-and-choose method when allocating houses to police personnel. The petitioner presented 36 cases in which, according to him, such out-of-turn allotments had been made.

The UT administration had told the court that the petitioner had not impleaded all beneficiaries. Further, it was told that an internal inquiry was pending before the home department and the same was likely to be finalised soon.

It was also argued that under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, no police officer could conduct an inquiry into any offence allegedly committed by a public servant, where the alleged offence was relatable to any recommendation made or decision taken by such public servant in discharge of his/her official function without the previous approval of the competent authority.