Punjab moves Supreme Court against P&H High Court order for CBI probe against CM Bhagwant Mann's OSD

Punjab government has moved the Supreme Court challenging Punjab and Haryana High Court's order directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register a criminal case to probe allegations of corruption linked to the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's office [State of Punjab v Nikhil Saraf].A Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the High Court order was filed by the government at around 1:42 am on Tuesday. Senior Advocate Vikas Singh, representing the State, today sought an urgent listing of the matter and referred to the upcoming assembly polls in the State. "I am appearing for the State of Punjab. These are all our officers. This is a case concerning transfers, postings and all those allegations. It is as if, during election time, these kinds of cases are being trumped up," he said.Singh added that the matter concerns the federal structure of the country. "There is urgency. Otherwise, it will really... The State is going into polls. It is a clear case concerning the federal structure, which is being violated. I am only saying there is some urgency. I would not have prayed otherwise," the senior counsel said.Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said the matter would be listed either on Wednesday or Thursday..A bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor at the High Court on Monday morning asked the CBI to file a report on its probe within two months.Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had asked the Punjab Police to register an FIR to probe the allegations of corruption against Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann's Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Rajbir Singh GhumanAs per the ED, an individual named Nitin Gohal acted as an intermediary between people seeking favours from the government, and Ghuman. The allegations relate to transfers, access to confidential government documents, facilitation of arms licences and other benefits.After the police failed to register an FIR, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition was filed by advocate Nikhil Saraf to challenge the inaction..In a judgment in the PIL, the High Court on Monday said the information shared by ED prima facie conveyed commission of cognizable offences in high public office which has the potential of endangering public interest. It found that Punjab had only conducted some sort of a "preliminary inquiry" since the sharing of information by the ED on August 3. It added that while notices were issued to many persons, Mann's OSD was not asked to join the probe.The Court also found that the Punjab Police was delaying the matter on the pretext of seeking legible copies of ED documents.The Court added that the material forwarded by the ED contained incriminating material and was expected to have led to a responsible response from the State police."The material shared by ED prima facie indicated involvement of high public officials in acts of corruption and at least required registering of FIR so that proper investigation in the matter would be carried out. This is not the response of the Punjab Police," the Court said.