Delhi HC stays NBW issued against ACB chief MK Meena till Sep 23

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Tuesday stayed till September 23 the non-bailable warrant against ACB Chief M K Meena issued by a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) set up by the AAP government to probe the CNG fitness scam, on the Centre's plea seeking its quashing.

"Wait till September 23. Till then do not precipitate matters. Don't take any coercive steps," a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said.

"Pending further orders in the petition, proceedings with regard to September 11 order (of CoI) shall remain stayed," the court said.

The order came on the Centre's plea challenging the September 11 order of the Delhi government-appointed CoI which had issued the NBW against Anti-Corruption Branch Chief Mukesh Kumar Meena.

The CoI, appointed to probe the multi-crore CNG fitness scam, had also directed attachment 30 per cent of Meena's salary till the records pertaining to the inquiry conducted by the ACB were presented to the probe panel.

The Centre's plea was first mentioned by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain before a bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva which directed that the matter be listed before an appropriate court today itself. Thereafter, the plea was listed before the chief justice.

Apart from the order, the Centre has also challenged the constitutionality of and the establishment of the COI.

The CoI, whose appointment was declared "invalid" by Union Home Ministry last month, had directed Delhi Police to execute the NBW and apprise it of action taken by today.

In August, the AAP government had appointed Justice (Retd) S N Agarwal, a former judge of Delhi and Madhya Pradesh High Courts, to head the one-man probe panel under the Commission of Inquiry Act to probe the scam in which a number of officials of erstwhile Sheila Dikshit government were under the scanner.