State HC reserves order on Amarinder's plea

A day after the Punjab and Haryana High Court refused to entertain the plea seeking a stay on the expulsion from the state legislative assembly of former Punjab chief minister, Captain Amarinder Singh terming “no urgency”, a division bench has reserved its order on Friday.

After hearing the arguments from the prosecution and the defence, the bench comprising Justices A K Goel and Ajay Tewari reserved the order and said, "At this juncture, we are not inclined to grant stay on the Vidhan Sabha resolution."

Captain Amarinder Singh was expelled from the Assembly on Wednesday after being indicted by a House Committee for alleged irregularities in a multi-crore Amritsar land scam and was booked by the Vigilance Bureau yesterday.

The Vigilance Bureau registered a case under Prevention of Corruption Act and sections of IPC against him and six others in the graft case involving Amritsar Trust land and subsequent tampering of Vidhan Sabha records after his indictment.

A special committee of the House that probed the Amritsar land scam had held him guilty of misuse of power and corruption in grant of exemption from acquiring 32 acres of land to a private coloniser during 2002-07 when he was the chief minister.

He was, however, got some kind of reprieve after the state High Court extended his interim bail till October one in connection with the Ludhiana city centre scam. The court had granted him bail last year, which was expiring today.

On Thursday, beleaguered Singh fled for London to participate in a charity show, finalise the publication of his latest book and get himself medically examined by his personal physician.

His foreign tour was granted by the Ludhiana court last week on the ground that Singh had been available for the hearing on time and whenever he had gone abroad, he had returned on time.

In Ludhiana, he is facing two criminal cases-Ludhiana city centre scam and disproportionate assets case-pertaining to corruption charges slapped against him by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau.

This is the third FIR registered by the Vigilance Bureau against Amarinder Singh since the SAD-BJP came to power. The earlier ones were in connection with the Ludhiana City Centre scam and a disproportionate assets case.