The Supreme Court on Monday said it will form a committee headed by a retired judge to conduct a time-bound and independent inquiry into the circumstances in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy was halted for several minutes at a flyover in Punjab on January 5.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana indicated that the ongoing inquiries by both Punjab and the Center have to be put on hold for the time being.
The court said the committee would submit a report within a specified time after examining the records of the security arrangements, which have already been seized by the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on its order on January 7.
The court indicated that the Registrar General of the High Court as well as officers helping them secure the documents, including DGP Chandigarh, IG National Investigation Agency, would be part of the committee. There will be one more member in the committee. Punjab has suggested its additional DGP (Security) as an alternative.
Punjab Advocate General DS Patwalia represented that the state feared that it would not get a fair trial. On January 5, a show-cause notice was already issued by the Center to the officials, citing disciplinary action for the security lapse.
Patwalia said all the state wanted was the opportunity of a fair trial before a neutral committee.
Patwalia requested the court, “If I am guilty, please hang me and my officers… but give me a fair trial.”
He said that the Punjab government attaches the highest importance to the security of the Prime Minister and wanted a thorough and comprehensive investigation into any security breach that occurred on January 5.
However, the show cause notices indicate that the Center is already considering Punjab police officers Prima facie Guilty of breach of his obligations towards the security of the Prime Minister. This has been decided without any evidence or records, all of which have already been confiscated on the orders of the Supreme Court, represented Patwalia.
‘absolute violation’
Mehta countered that show cause notices were issued before the apex court hearing on January 7.
He said there has been a “complete intelligence failure” on the part of the state. Further, he submitted, it was an accepted fact that there was a security lapse in violation of the Special Protection Group Act and the ‘Blue Book’.
“When there is outright violation, there is no question of hearing. Notice is given to the authorities responsible. Breakage is an accepted fact. This is the rarest of rare case. It cannot tolerate any delay, Mehta insisted.
But the court asked the Center why the judiciary was asked to intervene if the government had already accepted everything.
‘The role of the court?’
“The impression you give is that you have accepted everything.. Then why should the court go into all this?” The bench asked.
At one point, Justice Surya Kant said the show cause notice seemed “self-contradictory”. There may be some lapse, responsibility has to be found on the basis of facts, he said.
“If you want to take disciplinary action, what is left for this court to do?” The CJI questioned the Center before apprising it of the decision to constitute a probe panel headed by a former apex court judge.
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