SC stays CBI inquiry into allegations of corruption against Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat

DEHRADUN: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Uttarakhand high court’s (HC) order issued earlier this week, directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file an FIR and investigate the allegations of corruption levelled against chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.
The bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice MR Shad stayed the order while issuing notices to the respondents seeking their response.The allegations were made by Umesh Kumar Sharma, owner of a news channel, who had alleged that an amount of Rs 25 lakh was deposited into the bank account of the chief minister’s associates during demonetisation in 2016.
The allegation was that the amount was meant as a bribe for Rawat to appoint the man -- who paid the alleged bribe – as chairman of Gau Seva Aayog in Jharkhand. Rawat was the BJP state in-charge of Jharkhand at the time. After the HC order, CM Rawat had on Wednesday filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the high court order.
The state government had argued that the chief minister was not a party to the case and that he was not even heard before the order was passed. According to news agency PTI, the SC bench said that the "drastic order" passed by the high court without hearing the chief minister has taken "everybody by surprise" as there was no prayer in the plea by the petitioners to lodge an FIR against Rawat.
Attorney general KK Venugopal, appearing for Rawat, said that an FIR cannot be lodged without hearing the party who is the chief minister and this would "unsettle the elected government".