SC judge recuses from hearing Punjab govt plea against bail to Majithia
Darpan News Desk IANS, 30 Jan, 2023 12:21 PM
New Delhi, Jan 30 (IANS) Supreme Court judge Justice Surya Kant on Monday recused himself from hearing a Punjab government plea challenging the high court order, which granted bail to Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia in a drug case.
The matter was listed for Monday before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.K. Maheshwari.
As soon as the matter came up for hearing, Justice Surya Kant said he was part of the high court bench which passed directions to set up a special task force to investigate the matter.
Majithia, the brother-in-law of SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal and brother of former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, had been lodged in the Patiala jail on February 24 last year.
The Punjab government, represented by senior advocate Shyam Divan, moved the apex court challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court order dated August 10, 2022.
The bench ordered: "Let the matter be listed before a bench in which one of us (Justice Kant) is not a member."
Granting bail to Majithia, the high court had observed that there were "reasonable grounds" to believe that he is not guilty. Majithia was released after spending more than five months in the Patiala jail in the drug case.
However, the high court had clarified that the trial court should proceed independently of the observations made by it. Majithia was booked on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug special task force (STF) into a drug racket in the state.
Superintendent of Police, Chitradurga, K. Parashurama said that along with the prime accused seer, the charges against accused number two, women's hostel warden Rashmi and accused number four Paramashivaiah are also valid. However, the police are gathering evidence against accused number two, a minor, and accused number five Gangadharaiah, he added.
He made the announcement while addressing a joint presser here with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann. Kejriwal also said that outdoor activities for all classes above class 5 will also be suspended.
Interacting with the mediapersons here, the Chief Minister, accompanied by his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, said the state government is working on a multi-pronged strategy and has already roped in agriculture experts and the farmers unions for working out a viable solution for this problem.
Around 810 km of metro line are operational in 20 cities in the country while more than 980 km of metro network and RRTS is currently under construction in 27 cities, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri said on Friday, adding India currently has the fifth-largest metro network in the world.
The ministers said according to the data till date many cities of Haryana are in the first 10 cities in the list of the most polluted cities in India, including Hisar, Faridabad, Sirsa, Rohtak, Sonepat and Bhiwani, etc., while from Punjab, no city is in the first 10.
Punjab Police chief Gaurav Yadav said local shopkeeper, Sandeep Singh Sunny, has been arrested for firing at and killing the Shiv Sena leader, while terming the incident as unfortunate.
