The Supreme Court on Friday decided to look into the plea of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala whether the Punjab and Haryana high court had exceeded its limit in passing severe strictures
against him in a case related to the suspension of an officer during his tenure on his summary orders.
A bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A.R. Dave issued notice to the Haryana government and suspended officer Kanwar Bhan on the petition of Mr Chautala, seeking expunging of the high court strictures against the former CM. A single judge of the high court in an order passed on Mr Bhan’s petition in 2009 had described the action of Mr Chautala suspending him during his visit to Yamunanager in April 2001 as “illegal and arbitrary” use of power by the chief minister.
The court had said that the chief minister was not “above the law” to pass the suspension order on the spot against an officer without affording him an opportunity to explain his position, as prescribed under the rules.
But Mr Chautala’s counsel Ranjit Kumar told the apex court that the high court had not even issued notice to the former chief minister on Mr Bhan’s petition, which was decided after the officer had retired.