HC disposes of plea seeking probe against Himachal CM

The Delhi High Court on Thursday disposed of a plea that sought a court-monitored probe into the disproportionate assets case against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

A division bench of Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva closed the matter saying that since CBI has registered a regular case against Virbhadra Singh and tax authorities have made assessment and reassessment of his income, nothing more is required to be decided by the court.

The PIL was originally filed by NGO Common Cause through advocate Prashant Bhushan seeking a probe into Virbhadra Singh's disproportionate assets. The case was later converted into the one taken up by the court itself.

Earlier, the court had said that it would hear arguments on the maintainability of plea for a court-monitored probe into charges against Virbhadra Singh.

But after the Central bureau Investigation (CBI) told the court that it has filed a regular case and income tax authorities have already made assessment and reassessment of his income, the court disposed of the plea.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Virbhadra Singh had said that a court-monitored probe into charges against the chief minister was not maintainable.

The Supreme Court on November 5 had transferred the disproportionate assets case against Virbhadra Singh and his wife from Himachal Pradesh High Court to the Delhi High Court "to protect the institution from embarrassment" and "to avoid further controversy".

The CBI and the Income Tax department had earlier filed a status report on the allegations against Virbhadra Singh in a disproportionate assets case. There are charges against Virbhadra Singh on amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.