New Delhi, May 6
In a major relief to Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, the Supreme Court today stayed the trial in a corruption case against her pertaining to the alleged misappropriation of Rs 20 lakh from Chief Minister’s relief fund in 1996 when she was heading the government.

A Bench of Mr Justice Y. K. Sabharwal and Mr Justice S. B. Sinha, which had earlier rejected state government’s petition for further probe in the case, stayed the trial on the question of grant of sanction for her prosecution.

Her counsels K. K. Vengugopal and Nidhesh Gupta, contended that under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) prior sanction from the competent authority to prosecute a public servant in a case like this was mandatory.

But a special court at Chandigarh had held that no sanction was required in the case and the Punjab and Haryana High Court had also dismissed Ms Bhattal’s revision petition against the Special Judge’s order.

The special court has already framed charges against her and Ms Bhattal’s revision petition against it was also rejected by the High Court.

Since the apex court had rejected her SLP for further investigation in the case, “the petitioner has restricted this SLP to the question of sanction,” Mr Venugopal said. Ms Bhattal in her SLP claimed that as Chief Minister, she had withdrawn Rs 20 lakh vide two cheques from the CM’s Relief Fund to disburse among poor and needy persons. “Nearly four years later, it was alleged by a complainant that the money was misappropriated by her,” it said.

The state government earlier had sought reinvestigation of the case on the ground that the file containing the receipts for disbursement of the money, was found in the State Secretariat earlier this year.