[Breaking] CM not a party and such a drastic order was passed: Supreme Court stays Uttarakhand HC direction to register FIR against CM TS Rawat

The Supreme Court today stayed the Uttarakhand High Court's direction to register an FIR against Chief Minister TS Rawat after allegations of bribery were made against him by a journalist.

. The Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah stayed paragraphs 155.6, 155.7, and 155.8 of the High Court judgment passed on October 27.

. Appearing for Chief Minister Rawat today, Attorney General KK Venugopal stated that the High Court had erred in ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against the CM, who was not a party to the case. He said,

"The CM was not a party in this case and the High Court ordered a CBI probe. This is against Supreme Court verdicts which disallow destabilizing the government, as such verdicts demand resignation of the CM, which is happening."

. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal , appearing for the journalist who levelled the allegations against the CM, stated that the matter is serious as there are WhatsApp messages and bank accounts linked to the allegations against Rawat.

. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi , who also appeared for the CM, submitted that the High Court order was in violation of law.

. Justice Shah noted that "everyone was taken by surprise" after the High Court exercised its suo motu powers under Article 226 when there was no such issue raised by the petitioners. Justice Bhushan observed,

. "The CM was not a party and such a drastic order has been passed." Justice Ashok Bhushan . The Court thus issued notice in the petition, after staying portions of the October 27 judgment. The matter will be heard after four weeks.

. The Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday called for a CBI probe into allegations of corruption levelled against Rawat. It had also directed the police to register an FIR to investigate allegations of corruption made against the CM by journalist Umesh Sharma.

While doing so, the Court allowed a plea filed by Sharma seeking to quash an FIR filed against him this year for publishing a video containing these allegations.

. The Bench of Justice Ravindra Maithani opined in its order,

"This Court is of the view that considering the nature of allegations levelled against Trivendra Singh Rawat, the Chief Minister of the State, it would be appropriate to unfold the truth. It would be in the interest of the State that the doubts are cleared. Therefore, while allowing the petition, this Court proposes for investigation also."

. In a video released in June this year, Sharma had alleged that an amount of Rs 25 lakh was paid as bribe to Chief Minister TS Rawat by one Amratesh Singh Chauhan for his appointment as Chairman of the Gau Seva Ayog, Jharkhand . Rawat was the BJP's State in-charge of Jharkhand at the time, circa 2016.

This amount was alleged to have been deposited into various bank accounts, including those of Dr Harender Singh Rawat and his wife Savita Rawat. In his June 2020 video, Sharma asserted that Savita Rawat was Trivendra Singh's sister, making Dr Harender Singh Rawat his brother-in-law.

. The FIR listed various offences against Umesh Sharma for making corruption allegations tying Dr HS Rawat and Savita Rawat to Chief Minister TS Rawat in his video. Sharma was accused of cheating, forgery, conspiracy and allied offences.

Finding that none of these offences are prima facie made out against Sharma, the High Court quashed this FIR.

In the course of its judgment, the Court also opined that there appeared to be malafide intent motivating the case, given the speed at which it was filed against Sharma " coupled with the facts that the allegations levelled in the FIR were within the notice of the State as well as the informant much earlier in the year 2019. "

. In the course of the judgment, Justice Maithani also observed,

"People should not live under the impression that their representatives are not pure. If somebody levels false allegations which are actionable in law, the law should take its own course. If allegations of corruption levelled against the people in high positions stay in society without them being inquired and cleared, it will neither help the society to grow nor the State to function efficiently... Corruption is not something new. Corruption is such a menace which has penetrated in every realm of life. It appears as if the society has normalised it."

Having commented thus, and given the nature of the allegations made by Sharma against Chief Minister TS Rawat, the judge ordered,

" In view of the nature of the allegations, this Court is of the view that the CBI should be directed to lodge an FIR on the basis of allegations levelled in para 8 of the instant petition and investigate the case in accordance with law . "

[Breaking] CM not a party and such a drastic order was passed: Supreme Court stays Uttarakhand HC direction to register FIR against CM TS Rawat

Debayan Roy

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