Punjab & Haryana High Court Directs CBI Probe In Land Grabbing Case Involving Civil Judge

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has directed CBI investigation in a Rs. 100 crore land grabbing case involving a Civil Judge Navreet Kaur, who is accused of colluding with the accused persons.The plea was filed by a trust seeking CBI probe in the matter in which the judge was stated to have given favourable orders to the accused. It was alleged that in an unrelated case, the judge had summoned the senior bank official to produce the bank details of the trust even though it was not at all connected with the case.Justice Pankaj Jain observed, "the seriousness of the allegations levelled in the present case, the manner in which legal process has been employed to serve the illegal designs of the troublemakers and the conduct of the investigating agency in shifting its stand every now and then, this is one of those cases which calls for a thorough and detailed investigation from an independent agency."While directing the CBI to investigate the matter, referring to Shahid Balwa vs. Union of India the Court said in the words of Supreme Court no offender can be left with the feeling that he can get away with any crime which tarnishes the image not only of the investigating agency but judicial system as well.The case pertains to a land in Mohali district, Punjab stated to be in possession of Delhi based Guru Nanak Vidya Bhandar Trust. A FIR was lodged alleging that some persons have forged the document to grab the land. It was also alleged that accused persons forcefully entered into the property to forcefully takeover the possession. The plea was filed seeking probe by CBI or Special Investigation Team (SIT) into alleged attempt to garb the land. It was highlighted that in February a Bhatinda based lawyer had filed two application in a case in Judge Kaur's Court to get favourable orders of summoning the Bank official in order to produce details of the Trust's account, even though it was allegedly not related with the case.Adding that the involvement of various stakeholders in the system who were excepted to be on the right side of law but were apparently caught on the other is obvious, the Court said, "she (Judge Kaur) has signed the testimony sheet. Her silence w.r.t. relevance of evidence even while the testimony was being recorded remains amiss even today."The Court refused to comment on the judge and directed the Registry to place reports received from the Judge along with documents and the paper-book of the instant petition along with orders passed on different dates before the Administrative Judge of the concerned District for information and necessary action if any.Considering the seriousness of the matter, the Court directed the CBI to to conduct investigation, stating that, "This Court is quite sanguine that Central Bureau of Investigation shall conclude the investigation expeditiously preferably within six months."Appearance: R.S. Rai, Sr. Advocate withAdvocated P.S. Ahluwalia, Jagat Vir Singh Dhindsa, and Nitish Pathak, Advocate for the petitioner.Sr. Advocates Sumeet Goel with advocates Satyaveer Singh, Tajveer Singh, Ashish Pundir, Advocate for the applicant in CRM-38764-2023Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 213Title: Guru Nanak Vidya Bhandar Trust, Daryaganj, New Delhi v. State of Punjab and othersClick here to download/read the order.

Punjab & Haryana High Court Directs CBI Probe In Land Grabbing Case Involving Civil Judge

Aiman J. Chishti

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