HC backs Puri as SIT chief

Putting an end to the controversy over the appointment of retired police officer S S Puri as the head of the Special Investigating Team (SIT) to probe the stamp paper scam, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday rejected a plea of former police commissioner R S Sharma challenging Puri's position.

Sharma has been arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for allegedly shielding Abdul Karim Telgi, the prime accused in the fake stamp paper scam.

Chief Justice C K Thakker and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud, turning down Sharma's petition, upheld the earlier orders of the High Court delivered on September 4 and 24 appointing Puri as the head of the SIT to probe the scam.

The judges observed that these orders did not suffer from any infirmity and were passed for the purpose of conducting a fair and impartial probe which was also supported by the state government and the Centre.

Sharma argued that Puri's appointment was illegal as he was a retired police officer and did not belong to the existing service cadre. He quoted the Indian Police Service Cadre (fixation of cadre strength) Regulation, 1955, and said under this statute, there can be only one DGP in Maharashtra and that too from the existing cadre.

Appointing Puri to head the probe team was nothing short of conferring powers of the rank of DGP on a citizen, Sharma's lawyer V R Manohar argued.

Advocate General Goolam Vahanvati and government counsel Rui Rodrigues said there was nothing wrong with the High Court order of September 24 appointing Puri as the SIT chief. They said the court had powers under Article 226 of the constitution to appoint Puri in public interest.

Sharma contended that Puri's appointment be set aside and the probe conducted by him in regard to his (Sharma's) alleged involvement be declared illegal and quashed.

Sharma said Puri's appointment was a backdoor method to confer powers of DGP on him to conduct the probe.

The former police commissioner submitted that the High Court had erred in appointing Puri as the SIT chief and his appointment be quashed forthwith.

He said the High Court had on September four asked Puri to supervise the probe and on September 24 the court appointed him as the head of the SIT with the rank of DGP. Sharma's lawyer suggested that the High Court order of September four be revived and prayed that the other one should be set aside.

In another development, the court deferred a bunch of public interest litigations filed by social activist Anna Hazare and others alleging lopsided probe in the fake stamp paper scam.

Hazare's lawyer Majeed Memon also supported the Advocate General's submissions that the High Court had powers under the Article 226 of the constitution to appoint Puri as the SIT chief. The powers of the High Court under the Article 226 are wider, particularly in matters relating to public interest such as this case, he argued.

Hearing Sharma's petition, the High Court had earlier refused to accept SIT reports saying the appointment of Puri was under challenge and hence propriety demanded that the court should not see them until the issue was decided.

However, on February three, the apex court said the pendency of the Telgi stamp scam case before it would not preclude the High Court from taking a decision on the petition filed by Sharma challenging Puri's appointment as the SIT chief.