Rediff On The NeT: HC disposes public-interest plea against Kesri

HC disposes public-interest plea against Kesri

The Delhi high court has disposed of a public interest petition against Congress President Sitaram Kesri for allegedly amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The court observed that the Central Bureau of Investigation's probe in the matter is proceeding in a reasonable manner and there is no need for the court to investigate any further.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice M J Rao and Justice Manmohan Sarin observed that the petition by freelance journalist Madhuresh has achieved its objective in as much as the court monitoring from November 1996 to February 1997 the CBI investigation into the cases of Kesri's alleged disproportionate income and bribing of MLAs for his Rajya Sabha nominations for the last two terms.

The bench said it hoped and trusted that the investigation would proceed and be concluded and action taken in accordance with law.

It said it is not expressing anything on the merit of the case against Kesri.

The judges said that they had perused three status reports filed by the CBI and found that the investigation was going properly.

On the role of the court in such matters the bench held that the it was to see whether the investigation was going on properly and not to reach at any conclusion as to whether the offence had taken place. That is the job of the public prosecutor, the bench added.

The judges also said that Madhuresh should have waited for a reasonable time after filing his complaint with the CBI.

In this case the petitioner has come to the court within one month of filing the complaint with the investigating agency.

The petitioner should have also stated in his petition about what steps he has taken to find out from the CBI as to what action it was taking on his complaint, the judges added.

On the question of whether it was mandatory for the CBI to register a first information report straight away, the bench held that the agency can initiate a preliminary inquiry into the complaint and there is no need to register an FIR immediately.

UNI

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