The Punjab and Haryana High Court has set aside the order of a special CBI court framing charges against former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Associated Journals Limited (AJL) in the Panchkula plot re-allotment case, holding that the material on record does not disclose the essential ingredients of the alleged offences.
A bench of Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya, in its February 25 order, allowed the petitions and quashed the April 16, 2021 order of the special CBI court which had framed charges under Sections 120-B and 420 of the IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The High Court also set aside all subsequent proceedings and discharged the accused.
The court held that there were no sufficient grounds to continue the prosecution and observed that the material placed on record did not even prima facie establish the offences alleged.
“Continuation of prosecution will be an abuse of the process of the court. The impugned orders… framing charges against the petitioners as well as dismissing the discharge application, are hereby set aside along with all subsequent proceedings arising therefrom, and the petitioners stand discharged,” the court said.
It reiterated that to frame a charge, there must be material enabling the court to form an opinion regarding the existence of the ingredients of the offence. In the present case, it found no material indicating any agreement between the accused to cheat the authority.
The matter relates to a plot allotted in 1982 in Sector 6, Panchkula, by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), now Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran, to AJL. The plot was resumed in 1992 due to non-completion of construction within the stipulated time. AJL’s appeals against the resumption were dismissed in 1995 and 1996.
After Hooda became Chief Minister in 2005, the plot was re-allotted to AJL at the original rates. During the BJP government in Haryana, a vigilance case was registered in 2016, which was later taken over by the CBI. It was alleged that the re-allotment caused financial loss to the public exchequer.
In April 2021, the special CBI court framed charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating against Hooda and AJL, which is the publisher of the National Herald.
The High Court noted that the decision to re-allot the plot was taken by the authority and unanimously ratified by its members. It observed that the decision had neither been reviewed nor declared illegal by any court.
“A conscious decision taken by the authority cannot be termed inconsequential and fake based upon subsequent statements of its members who… concurred with it without demur,” the court said.
It further held that the CBI’s decision to charge-sheet only Hooda, who was the chairman of the authority, while ignoring other members who ratified the decision, raised doubts about the bona fides of the investigation.
The court recorded that the allotment remains valid, has not been cancelled, and AJL has completed construction after paying the re-allotment price and extension fee. An occupation certificate was issued by the authority on August 14, 2014.
It also noted that no grievance had been raised regarding any loss to the authority and that neither AJL nor any other accused had been asked to make good any alleged loss. The government auditors had also dropped their objections.
The court observed that the FIR was registered on the basis of a vigilance source report and not on a complaint by the authority itself.
“Ignoring these vital facts… the CBI has taken upon itself to term the re-allotment illegal… This is absolutely illegal, and far from any procedure known to law,” the order said.
On the allegation of conspiracy, the court held that there was no material to show that AJL and Hooda acted in concert to dishonestly secure restoration of the plot.
“Although there has been a request from the AJL seeking restoration of the plot… there is no material… to indicate that it was in concurrence with Hooda to fraudulently or dishonestly get the plot restored at original rates,” the court observed.
Accordingly, the High Court discharged the petitioners and quashed the criminal proceedings arising from the special CBI court’s order.
