Zeenews Bureau
Chandigarh, Sept 16: In a major setback to former Punjab Chief Minister and Congress leader Amarinder Singh, the state government on Tuesday formed a three-member panel to question him in the alleged Amritsar land scam.
According to reports, the members of the panel are IPS-level officers, who will continue Amarinder’s custodial interrogation in the alleged land scam case.
The development comes a day after the Punjab and Haryana High Court refused to stay former Amarinder’s expulsion from the state Assembly,
"We do not find any ground to stay the order of expulsion by way of ad-interim order. However, we consider it a fit case to fix a date for final hearing", said a division bench comprising of Justice Adarsh Goel and Justice Ajay Tewari, five days after the state Assembly expelled Singh.
The bench on Monday said, "stay of expulsion will amount to grant of final relief without hearing the other side" and issued notice to the assembly through its Secretary and directed him to file the reply on or before October 31.
The court also allowed petitioner (Amarinder) to file a rejoinder on or before November 15, and admitted the case for final hearing on December 1 before a regular division bench.
The court had last week reserved its judgment on Amarinder`s plea seeking a stay in the case registered by the Vigilance Bureau and on his expulsion from the assembly on the recommendation of a House Committee which probed the matter.
The High Court also said the investigation officer in the case can conduct custodial interrogation of Amarinder Singh as per law if considered necessary.
