"Intention Of Punjab, Haryana States Present But Efforts Lagging": High Court On Slow Pace Of Probe In Cases Against MPs/MLAs

Perusing the status report filed by the States of Punjab and Haryana regarding the probe into the criminal cases against the Lawmakers (MPs/MLAs), the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday observed that the intention to probe cases on the part of the states is present, however, their actions in this regard are lagging.

"We would not say that the intention on the part of the State of Punjab or Haryana is lacking but the efforts and the actions supporting the said intention appear to be missing or at least lagging," the Bench of Justice Augustine George Masih and Justice Sandeep Moudgil observed.

It may be noted that during the course of the last hearing in the suo moto matter initiated for expeditious disposal of criminal cases against legislators in terms of directions passed by the Supreme Court in Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India & Anr., the States of Punjab and Haryana had given an assurance to the Court that the pending probe in the cases against the legislators shall be completed expeditiously.

However, the Court, on Wednesday, didn't find the status reports filed by the States, to be satisfactory and therefore, the Court made a remark that though intention was present to probe matters, the actions on the part of both the states were missing and lagging.

"The reports as have been submitted indicate movement in the right direction but the pace thereof is moving cannot be, by any stretch of the imagination, said to be satisfactory," the Court said.

To this observation of the court, the counsel for the State of Punjab, as well as the State of Haryana, prayed for some time to submit the further progress and the status in the pending cases for investigation.

Granting the prayer, the Court adjourned the matter to March 28, 2022.

Case title - COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION v. STATE OF PUNJAB AND OTHERS

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