Overview
- The bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma issued notice Monday and asked Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Associated Journals Limited to reply by July.
- The CBI, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General S. V. Raju, says the High Court failed to consider evidence of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC.
- The Punjab and Haryana High Court on February 25 quashed the case, called further prosecution an abuse of process, and set aside the special CBI court’s 2021 order framing charges.
- Following that ruling, a CBI court closed the criminal case on March 27, and a PMLA court also shut the Enforcement Directorate’s linked money-laundering case tied to the same plot.
- The dispute stems from a 1982 land allotment to AJL in Panchkula, its later cancellation for non-construction, and a 2005 restoration at old rates that the CBI says caused loss to the state.