Param Bir Singh withdraws plea after Supreme Court refuses to hear it

By LE Desk

New Delhi, March 24: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh’s petition for a CBI probe into his allegations of corruption against Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.

The two-judge bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and R Subhash Reddy said that the matter raised by the petitioner was very serious, but it should be raised in front of the High Court and not the Supreme Court.

“There is no doubt that the matter is very serious affecting administration of a state… but why didn’t you go to HC?” Justice Kaul asked the petitioner, India Today reported.

The apex court said that the matter should have been raised before the High Court under Article 226, rather than before the Supreme Court under Article 32.

The judge also questioned why the petitioner did not make Anil Deshmukh a party in the case even as serious allegations were levelled against him.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Param Bir Singh, withdrew the plea and said he will raise the matter before the High Court on Wednesday itself. He requested the apex court to direct the High Court to hear the matter on Thursday.

The Supreme Court recorded the request in its order and directed him to raise the same request before the High Court.

In his plea, the ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner had also requested a stay on his transfer from the top post, days after an explosive-laden SUV was found outside businessman Mukesh Ambani’s residence Antilia in Mumbai.

Param Bir Singh claimed that his transfer violated Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

The ex-Mumbai top cop’s petition was filed a few days after he wrote a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh was interfering with the police work.

In the explosive letter, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had met with his subordinates in February and asked them to collect Rs 100 crore per month from various establishments in Mumbai.

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/param-bir-singh-plea-supreme-court-mukul-rahtogi-1783003-2021-03-24