The Supreme Court on Thursday transferred the disproportionate assets case against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife to the Delhi High Court “to protect the institution from embarrassment” and “to avoid further controversy”.
A bench of Justice F.M.I. Kalifulla and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit said it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case but simply transferring the case to the Delhi High Court “in the interest of justice and to save the institution (judiciary) from any embarrassment”.
It clarified that the transfer was made in view of the peculiar circumstances of the case.
The transfer should not be misconstrued to cast any aspersions on the Himachal Pradesh High Court or as an act that undermined the country’s federal structure, it observed.
The decision comes as a temporary reprieve to the octogenarian Congress leader as he would not be arrested until the petition was disposed of.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Virbhadra Singh, opposed the transfer on the ground that it would send a wrong message that the Himachal Pradesh High Court was not fit enough to hear this case.
Last month, the CBI challenged a Himachal Pradesh High Court order restraining it from investigating the chief minister and his wife or taking them into custody in a Rs.6 crore disproportionate assets case.
The apex court, however, did not grant an interim suspension of the state high court order of October 1 that restrained the CBI from arresting Virbhadra Singh and his wife.
The CBI’s plea to allow custodial interrogation of the chief minister and his wife would now be heard by the Delhi High Court.
The Supreme Court on October 26 through notice asked the couple to explain why their plea against a CBI investigation should not be transferred from the state high court to one outside the state.
Virbhadra Singh moved the Himachal Pradesh High Court following CBI searches at his residences in Delhi and Shimla on September 26 which he contended were mala fide and out of political vendetta.
The case was registered on September 23 under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the chief minister, his wife Pratibha Singh, LIC agent Anand Chauhan and an associate, Chunni Lal.
The case was the outcome of a preliminary inquiry which said that Virbhadra Singh, while serving as a union minister during 2009-2012, allegedly accumulated assets worth Rs.6.03 crore in his name and in the name of his family members, which were found to be disproportionate to his known sources of income.
