HC stays NBW issued against ACB Chief M K Meena till Sep 23

New Delhi, Sep 15: In a relief to ACB Chief M K Meena, a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against him by a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) probing the CNG fitness scam was today stayed by the Delhi High Court till September 23.

A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath passed the order while issuing notice to the AAP government and the CoI set up by it, seeking their responses on the Centre's plea challenging constitutionality and the establishment of the panel.

The bench listed the matter with two other writ petitions which also challenged the setting up of the panel and are slated to be heard on September 23.

"Wait till September 23. Till then do not precipitate matters. Don't take any coercive step," a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said.

"Pending further orders in the petition, proceedings with regard to September 11 order (of CoI) shall remain stayed," the court said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs in its petition has opposed the September 11 order of the CoI which had not only issued NBW against Anti-Corruption Branch Chief Mukesh Kumar Meena, but also directed attachment of 30 per cent of his salary till records pertaining to the inquiry conducted by the ACB into the scam were presented to the probe panel.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, assisted by central government standing counsel Kirtiman Singh, argued that the September 11 order was passed "without jurisdiction and not in accordance with law".

They said there was an urgency in the matter as Meena had been ordered to produce the records before the commission today itself.

The CoI, whose appointment was declared "invalid" by Union Home Ministry last month, had directed Delhi Police to execute the NBW and apprise it of the action taken by today.

In August, the AAP government had appointed Justice (Retd) S N Agarwal, a former judge of Delhi and Madhya Pradesh High Courts, to head the one-man probe panel under the Commission of Inquiry Act to probe the scam in which a number of officials of erstwhile Sheila Dikshit government were under the scanner.

PTI