The Punjab and Haryana High Court today minced no words in saying there was enough indications to suggest senior advocate Harbhagwan Singh had been engaged by the Centre in the Sehajdhari voting rights case.
The assertion is significant as just more than a fortnight ago, the Centre had categorically told Parliament that “neither the Ministry of Law, nor the Ministry of Home Affairs, had given a vakalatnama to Harbhagwan Singh”.
The observations validates the investigations carried out by The Tribune. The paper was the first to report that the Centre may not have given a clear picture to Parliament on Harbhagwan Singh’s engagement in the case.
The statement given to Parliament, on the face of it, had given the impression that Harbhagwan Singh was not authorised to appear before the Punjab and Haryana High Court for arguing the case as he had not been given a vakalatnama, though the “Ministry of Law and Justice had written a letter dated September 1, 2011, approving the engagement of Harbhagwan Singh in two of the three cases before the High Court ”.
As the case came up for resumed hearing this afternoon, the Full Bench of Acting Chief Justice MM Kumar, Justice Alok Singh and Justice Gurdev Singh said in the open court: “Indications are available that Harbhagwan Singh was engaged”. The Bench based its observations on an office memorandum on his engagement placed on record by Ashwani Chopra, counsel for Sehajdhari Sikh Federation.
The assertion came after Additional Advocate-General MC Berry, appearing on behalf of the State of Punjab, asserted that Harbhagwan Singh’s presence was necessary to reply to averments made in an application moved by the Union of India for the withdrawal of High Court’s September 1 orders. The Full Bench on that date had disposed of a bunch of three petitions after Harbhagwan Singh told the High Court he was appearing for the Centre and the impugned notification debarring Sehajdhari Sikhs from voting in the SGPC elections stood withdrawn. The Centre the very next day had clarified that the notification was still in force.
Speaking for the Bench, Acting Chief Justice asserted this afternoon that Berry’s stand need not be taken to a logical end in view of the available indications on Harbhagwan Singh’s engagement. Moreover, the Bench had already dismissed an application for initiation of proceedings against Harbhagwan Singh.
Chopra also told the Bench that the Centre had not come to the High Court with clean hands on the issue. The Centre had claimed he was neither given a vakalatnama, nor briefed. The Bar Council rules, in fact, made it clear that a senior counsel was neither required to be given a vakalatnama, nor briefed.
