Supreme Court quashes Uttarakhand High Court order directing CBI probe against former CM Trivendra Rawat

The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a 2020 Uttarakhand High Court order that had directed a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into allegations of corruption levelled by two journalists against the State's then Chief Minister, TS Rawat. (Trivendra Singh Rawat vs Umesh Sharma).A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar noted that no such prayers had been made in the petition before the High Court, and that the plea by the journalists was filed only for quashing a first information report (FIR) against them.Pertinently, the Court also said that Rawat was not made a party to the proceedings or heard before the order was passed." .... Even the appellant was not a party to proceedings before the High Court and not heard at all ... The High Court's orders are unsustainable and in violation of principles of natural justice ... The impugned directions calling for criminal investigation against the appellant and the observations made are hereby quashed and set aside," the top court held.It is specifically noted that the orders are set aside on the aforesaid grounds alone, the Court added..In a video released in June 2020, it was alleged that an amount of ₹25 lakh was paid as bribe to Rawat in 2016 by one Amratesh Singh Chauhan for his appointment as chairperson of the Gau Seva Ayog of Jharkhand. Rawat was the BJP's State in-charge of Jharkhand at that time. The bribe amount was allegedly deposited in various bank accounts, including those of Dr Harender Singh Rawat (Rawat's brother-in-law) and wife Savita Rawat (Rawat's sister). The criminal proceedings against HS Rawat and Savita Rawat were subsequently quashed as the High Court had observed that the alleged offences of cheating, forgery, conspiracy were not made out. .Rawat moved the top court after single-judge Justice Ravindra Maithani had, while allowing three writ petitions to quash criminal proceedings against the original complainants, opined that there were certain further issues lingering in the issue.The High Court had then proceeded to take the view that the allegations of corruption levelled against Rawat deserve to be probed."People should not live under the impression that their representatives are not pure. If somebody levels false allegations which are actionable in law, the law should take its own course. If allegations of corruption levelled against the people in high positions stay in society without them being inquired and cleared, it will neither help the society to grow nor the State to function efficiently."Therefore, Justice Maithani had directed the Superintendent of Police, CBI Dehradun, to register a case to investigate the allegations made..[Read SC order]