Mumbai, Feb 26: The Bombay High Court is likely to hear today, former Mumbai Police Commissioner R S Sharma's plea challenging the appointment of retired IPS officer S S Puri as the Chief of Special Investigation Team (SIT), investigating the multi-crore fake stamp papers scam. In his petition, to be heard by the division bench of Chief Justice C K Thakkar and Justice D Y Chandrachud, Sharma, an accused in the scam, had challenged Puri's appointment, as the latter was a retired IPS officer and could not be given the designation of Director General of Police.
It was also argued that the appointment was a violation of the Bombay Police Service Act and various provisions of the law. The petitioner has said that the investigation so far conducted under Puri's supervision should therefore be declared null and void.
Hearing Sharma's petition, the high court had earlier refused to accept the sit report and observed that since the appointment had been challenged, propriety demanded that the court not accept it till the issue was resolved.
Meanwhile on February 3, the Supreme Court had allowed the high court to take a decision on Sharma's petition in spite of a similar petition pending before it.
Bureau Report