HC sets aside Lokpal order for Mahua in cash-for-query case

The Delhi high court on Friday set aside the Lokpal’s order granting the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sanction to file a charge sheet against Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra in the alleged cash-for-query case, observing that the procedure adopted by it amounted to a form of statutory ingenuity or re-engineering of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013 (Act) and ‘was “wholly alien to the scheme” of the Act.

- Shruti Kakkar

On November 12, the Lokpal had granted CBI the sanction to file a charge sheet within four weeks, and mandated that a copy be submitted to the Lokpal.

A bench of justices Anil Kshetarpal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar asked the Lokpal to consider the aspect of sanction afresh as per the provisions of the Act and take a call within one month.