Pending prosecution sanctions: HC notice to Centre, Punjab

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday issued notice on a petition seeking quashing of standard operating procedures issued by the Union government for investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act for public servants

Chandigarh : The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday issued notice on a petition seeking quashing of standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the Union government for investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act for public servants.

The Punjab and Haryana high court has issued notice on a petition seeking quashing of standard operating procedures issued by the Union government for investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act for public servants.

The petition was filed by Sarabjit Singh Verka, who remained the chairman of Free Legal Aid Vigilance Cell constituted by the Amritsar Bar Association.

The high court issued the notice to the Union government, Punjab government and chief vigilance director, Punjab, for August 8.

The petition seeks directions that proposal for sanction for investigation and prosecution must be decided within weeks and months and not in years as has been happening in Punjab.

The petition relied on information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act which showed that large number of proposals for sanction are pending since 2018.

The RTI reply said that from 2018 onwards, the approvals are pending in 45 cases.