M A I N   N E W S

Justice A. S. Garg resigns
Amarinder to request CJ for sitting Judge
Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 14
The Punjab Government may request the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to spare a sitting Judge to head the one-man inquiry commission against the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government after the original appointee, Justice A.S. Garg, citing “personal reasons”, quit office today.

Talking to The Tribune, the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, said that the decision of Justice Garg to quit was “his own”.

“Keeping in view the request of Shiromani Akali Dal chief and former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, we have decided to request the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to recommend the name of a sitting Judge to head the inquiry commission,” Capt Amarinder Singh said, hoping that the Chief Justice would accede to the request of the government.

Sources maintained that the earlier notification issued under the Commission of Enquiries Act would be suitably amended after the name of the new Chairman of the commission had been cleared by the Chief Justice. The other terms of reference would remain unchanged, the sources added.

Justice Garg was appointed only last month. He had yet to start functioning .

Justice Garg’s appointment had generated an unsavoury controversy after serious allegations were levelled against him by a senior member of the Haryana Judicial Service. It was The Tribune which had come out in its issue of April 29 with a page one story about how Justice Garg had allegedly tried to pressurise an Additional Sessions Judge and relation of Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala to get his son’s loan of Rs 2.20 crore waived from the Haryana Financial Corporation.

According to sources, Justice Garg sent his resignation letter to the Governor of Punjab, Lt-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), this morning. Sources in Punjab Raj Bhavan confirmed the receipt of the letter and said that it was being forwarded to the state government.

The Advocate-General of Punjab, Mr Harbhagwan Singh, said that “it was a three-line resignation by Justice Garg who cited personal reasons for quitting the commission.”

While his resignation has given a setback to the Congress government headed by Capt Amarinder Singh in its crusade against corruption, the Opposition parties, especially the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), have hailed the decision of Justice Garg, claiming it to be their “first moral victory over the new government in the state”.

Mr Badal said in a statement that “though the resignation of Justice Garg was welcome, his appointment had already revealed the true intentions of the ruling party in Punjab, which was to conduct a sham inquiry with a view to defaming its political rivals. The appointment of a controversial person for conducting a partisan inquiry was tainted with political considerations from the very start.”

Mr Badal reiterated his party’s stand that only a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court should be appointed with the consent of the Chief Justice to head the inquiry commission. He further wanted that the commission should have terms of reference that should clearly establish its non-partisan character.

Though the first demand of the Shiromani Akali Dal stands conceded with the government approaching the Chief Justice for a sitting Judge, the government may not relent and change the terms of reference of the commission.

A few days ago, Justice Garg had in a letter to the Punjab Government not only asked for more staff, including an Inspector-General of Police, but also wanted that cases or complaints to be investigated should be sent to the commission.