The Supreme Court on Monday said it would form a committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to conduct a time-bound and independent inquiry into the circumstances that led to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy being stuck for several minutes on a flyover in Punjab on January 5.
Editorial | A serious lapse: On PM security breach
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana indicated that ongoing inquiries by both the Punjab and Centre would have to stop for the time being.
The court said its committee would submit a report within a specified time after examining the records of the security arrangements, which have already been seized by the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court as per its orders on January 7.
The court also indicated that the Registrar General, along with the officers who helped him seize and protect the documents, who include the DGP, Chandigarh, and the IG, National Investigation Agency, would be part of the committee.
There would be another member in the committee. Punjab has suggested its Additional DGP (Security) as an alternative.
Disciplinary action
Punajb Advocate General D.S. Patwalia, at the start of the hearing, said the State feared it would not get a fair hearing. It said show-cause notices had been issued by the Centre to its officers, mentioning disciplinary action against them for the security lapse concerning the Prime Minister’s convoy. All that the State wanted from the court was an opportunity for a fair hearing before a neutral committee.
“If I am guilty, please hang me and my officers, but give me a fair hearing,” Mr. Patwalia requested the court. He stated that the State government gave the issue of the Prime Minister’s security the utmost importance and wanted a full and comprehensive inquiry into any security breach that may have happened that day. The show-cause notices indicated that the Centre already considered Punjab’s police officers prima facie guilty of violating their obligations towards the Prime Minister’s security. This had been arrived at without any evidence or records, all of which had been seized on the orders of the apex court.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta countered that the show-cause notices were issued before the top court hearing on January 7. He said there had been a “complete intelligence failure” on the part of the State. Besides, he submitted, it was an admitted fact that there had been a security lapse in violation of the Special Protection Group Act and the ‘Blue Book’.
“When there is a complete breach, there is no question of hearing. Officers responsible are served with notice. There is an admitted fact of breakage. This is a rarest of rare case. It cannot brook any delay,” he emphasised.
‘Presumed everything’ already
The court asked the Centre why the judiciary had been asked to intervene if the government had “presumed everything” already. “The impression you give is that you have presumed everything... Then why should the court go into all this,” it asked.
At one point, Justice Surya Kant said the show-cause notices seemed “self-contradictory.” There may have been some lapse, but who was responsible for that had to be found on the basis of the facts.
“If you want to take disciplinary action, what is left for this court to do,” the CJI asked the Centre, before conveying the decision to form the inquiry panel led by a former top court judge.
The court wound up the hearing, saying it would pass orders.
