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Graft case against former CS Janjua: Send all documents about prosecution sanction to Centre: HC to Punjab
The corruption case was registered on November 9, 2009, by the vigilance bureau, Punjab, following a complaint by one Tulsi Ram Mishra. Punjab and Haryana HC directed Punjab chief secretary to send all the relevant documents for prosecution sanction to the Centre within one month about a corruption case involving former chief secretary VK Janjua.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed Punjab chief secretary to send all the relevant documents for prosecution sanction to the Centre within one month about a corruption case involving former chief secretary VK Janjua.
The corruption case was registered on November 9, 2009, by the vigilance bureau, Punjab, following a complaint by one Tulsi Ram Mishra. The allegations were that he had allegedly taken a bribe of ₹2 lakh. He was then serving as director of industries and commerce.
Then Punjab governor gave the sanction for prosecuting Janjua in April 2010 and challan was also filed the same month. However, acting on a plea from him seeking discharge in the case, the trial court accepted it noting that the power to act against an IAS officer was vested with the Centre. The Punjab government then wrote to the Centre to accord sanction to prosecute him in July 2014. However, it was withdrawn on March 26, 2018.
The trial court order of discharge was challenged by Tulsi Ram Mishra in the high court on April 5, 2016. He had argued that allegations were serious as he was allegedly caught red-handed while accepting the bribe.
The sanction granted could not be said to be invalid as Janjua was working in the state at the time of the FIR, he had argued.
Janjua on the other hand had argued that the state government was not the competent authority for the same. Although the state government had sent the matter to the Centre, later it had re-examined the matter and the letter was withdrawn in March 2018.
The court observed that the criminal proceedings appear to have had no effect on Janjua, who rose to the position of chief secretary of the state, which is the highest post in the state bureaucracy.
“This court cannot shut its eyes to the serious allegations against the petitioner. If this court allows the matter to be closed or brushed under the carpet at this stage, it would be failing in its duty to ensure that justice is not only done but seems to be done in cases involving corruption by high government functionaries,” the bench of justice Anupinder Singh Grewal observed disposing of the plea from Mishra and endorsing trial court order. Now, it has asked the chief secretary to forward all relevant material in the case to the secretary, department of personnel and training, Government of India, within one month. The Centre has been directed to decide on prosecution sanction within three months. The court also directed the trial court to conclude the trial expeditiously, if sanction is granted by the Centre.
