CHARAN DASS SHOREWALA Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order will dispose of Criminal Misc Petitions No. 23051-M and 26360-M of 2000.

(2.) THE petitioner is seeking anticipatory bail in a case FIR No. 302 dated 9.7.2000 registered against Anil Kumar Shorewala. According to the petitioner, he is a socially and politically eminent person, who has held high political and municipal offices. He was the Member of Legislative Assembly, Haryana from 1972 to 1977 and thereafter was re-elected in the year 1996 on the ticket of Samta Party of which Shri Om Parkash Chautala was the leader. He was expelled from the said party and had joined the Haryana Cabinet headed by Shri Bansi Lal and now Shri Om Parkash Chautala has come into power as the leader of the Indian National Lok Dal Party. The police is trying to rope him in the aforementioned case although there is no allegation against him in the FIR.

(3.) IN Crl. Misc. No. 23501-M of 2000, notice of motion had been issued to the State primarily on the ground that on the face of it, the FIR did not contain any assertions revealing the complicity of the petitioner in the offence that was alleged to have been committed by his son Anil Kumar Shorewala. During the pendency of this petition, another FIR No. 320 was registered against the petitioner on 1.8.2000 under Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 420 IPC. That FIR was registered on a report made by Shri Ashok Bishnoi, Sub Divisional Magistrate, Kaithal, who had inquired into the allegations of corruption against the petitioner while working as Finance Minister in recruitment of 12 Class IV employees by the District Treasury Officer. This recruitment was conducted by District Treasury Officer after obtaining the approval for filling up five posts of Class IV employees from the Finance Minister i.e. the petitioner. In response to the advertisement made in the local newspaper and the request sent to the Employment Exchange, 332 applications were received and 44 names were sponsored. Interview was conducted on 17.2.99 and 12 persons were selected for these posts. After the grant of approval, three more posts had fallen vacant at Treasury Office, Kaithal and four posts were created by transferring the officials posted at Kaithal. Out of the candidates selected, only one was taken out of the panel sent by the district Employment Officer and 11 candidates were selected out of all the persons who had responded to the advertisement in the local newspapers. In these circumstances, inferring that the recruitment had been made for extraneous reasons by the District Treasury Officer, Kaithal under pressure, as per the direction of the Finance Minister i.e. the petitioner, Sub Divisional Magistrate had requested for the registration of the case.