The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday handed over an investigation into Enforcement Directorate (ED) letters detailing alleged top-level government corruption in Punjab to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Hours after the order, Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema said the state government will challenge the order in the Supreme Court.
ED's three formal communications
Cheema said CBI was already barred from entering Punjab without the consent of the state government. “Previous governments had imposed a restriction on CBI’s entry into the state,” he said, referring to the withdrawal of general consent to CBI by the previous government.
A division bench of chief justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and justice Rohit Kapoor directed CBI to register a criminal case and submit a status report within two months.
The order was passed on a public interest litigation (PIL), filed on August 27 by advocate Nikhil Saraf, seeking an independent central probe after state authorities failed to act on three formal communications sent by ED to Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav between July 24 and August 12. The PIL alleged widespread corruption by senior state officials across multiple domains, including cash-for-transfers, policy manipulations and tender allocations.
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{{/usCountry}}The court observed that the material sent by ED to Punjab police is voluminous and contains “incriminating material” and prima facie indicated involvement of high public officials in acts of corruption that at least required registering of FIR.
“...we are of the considered view that a fair and transparent investigation is required to be carried out in the matter. We are also not impressed by the manner in which Punjab police has acted so far in the matter and therefore we deem it appropriate to entrust investigation of the present case to the Central Bureau of Investigation which will register an FIR in the matter and proceed with the investigation forthwith,” the court said, asking Punjab police to render full cooperation.
The court also took note of the petitioner’s contention that attempt was made to silence him and demolition order of his Mohali property, soon after filing of the petition.
The court noted that the Punjab government was asked to respond to the petition on August 27 but no reply was filed and only a note was shared even as proceedings continued between August 27 and September 14, when the matter was reserved for final orders. “A careful perusal of the ...note raises more questions than it answers,” it added.
The state government had opposed the PIL, mainly questioning its maintainability.
However, the court rejected the argument observing that when the petitioner is able to show that he is raising a subject of vital public importance then a public interest litigation would clearly be maintainable before this court.
GMADA land allotments money laundering probe
According to ED’s letters—derived from material seized during an ongoing money-laundering investigation involving GMADA land allotments—a private individual named Nitin Gohal acted as an intermediary for Rajbir Singh Ghuman, the officer on special duty (OSD) to chief minister Bhagwant Mann. The ED alleged that Gohal, in collusion with Ghuman and other associates, including Bir Devinder and Jitin Gohal, operated an organised bribery network out of the chief minister’s office.
The network allegedly collected crores in cash and real estate in exchange for influencing IAS/IPS postings, leaking confidential government files, facilitating arms licences, and clearing commercial projects.
The state government had opposed the PIL, questioning its maintainability and the credentials of the petitioner. Appearing for the state, the advocate general argued that police were actively examining the matter and maintained that an FIR could not be registered without completing a preliminary inquiry, seeking a three-week extension on September 14 when judgment was reserved.
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The ruling triggered immediate political fallout. Opposition leaders, including Punjab leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, welcomed the court’s intervention and demanded an impartial, time-bound probe to hold powerful officials accountable.
Meanwhile, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the Union government of misusing central agencies like the ED to defame the state administration.