The Supreme Court on Thursday, 29 October, stayed the order of the Uttarakhand High Court directing a CBI probe against state Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.
The Uttarakhand High Court had asked the investigative agency to file an FIR against Rawat and examine corruption allegations leveled by a journalist Umesh Sharma.
The journalist had accused the CM of indirectly receiving alleged bribe of Rs 25 lakh in 2016 when Rawat was the BJP’s in-charge of Jharkhand.
Appearing for Rawat, the Attorney General KK Venugopal told the court that an FIR can't be lodged without hearing the party, which is the CM, and this will unsettle the elected government, reported PTI.
The three-judge bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said, “Can such an order be passed in a petition where neither any specific prayer for probe is made nor the state or CM is made a party. All of a sudden everybody is taken by surprise.”
Staying the operative portion of the 27 October high court order directing the CBI probe, the apex court asked the opposite parties to file response in four weeks.
(With inputs from PTI and LiveLaw.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)