The Court went on to question the need for a fact-finding inquiry by the Centre. Justice Kohli asked,
“By issuing the show cause notice you show that you have decided how will you go ahead. So why should this Court go into the matter at all?”
Justice Kant weighed in,
“Your show cause notice is totally self-contradictory. By constituting the Committee, you seek to enquire if there was a breach of SPG Act and then you hold state Chief Secretary (CS) and Director General of Police (DG) guilty. Who held them guilty?”
Noting that the CS and DG are parties to the case, the Court further asked,
“The State and petitioner want a fair hearing and you cannot be against a fair hearing. So why this administrative and fact-finding enquiry by you at all?”
Justice Kohli added,
“When you issued the notice, it was before our order and after that, we passed our order. You asking them to reply in 24 hours is not expected of you.”
CJI Ramana then said,
“If you want to take disciplinary action against the State officers, then what remains for this Court to do?”
Source: Barandbench
