Chandigarh: Hooda counsel asked why I was taking such interest in his cases says special ED judge

CHANDIGARH: In an unusual development, special CBI judge Panchkula, Sushil Kumar Garg, who is also heading special court hearing enforcement directorate (ED) cases, has claimed that he was approached by a senior advocate representing former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in a criminal case. He said the Hooda counsel asked him as to why “he has been taking such personal interest in the matter.”
According to the special judge, senior advocate R S Cheema, who has been representing Hooda, had contacted him over his staff’s mobile phone and requested him to adjourn the hearing of the case for a long date on account of the sudden surge in Covid-19 cases and as he was 75 years old. As per the judge, Cheema wanted the case hearing to be adjourned till July this year.
“Then suddenly the learned senior counsel (R S Cheema) started making uncalled for personal remarks and said ‘aap iss matter mai itna personal interest kyun dikha rahe ho’ (why are you taking so much personal interest in this case?), by fixing such a short date in May itself,’ claimed the special judge.
“The learned counsel did not stop here,” the judge added.
He started agitating that in the order on charge passed by this court in another matter against the same accused (titled CBI versus Bhupinder Singh Hooda and others), his contention was not mentioned that he did not plead qua the point of applicability of Section 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act due to the contrary stance earlier taken by him in another matter and that the legal submissions in this regard shall be made by P K Sandhir, senior counsel for the defence,” the judge added.
As per the special judge, Cheema contended that in the said case, they were engaged in arguments on discharge application till 4.30 pm and later one of the accused, Bhupinder Singh Hooda had tested positive for coronavirus, due to which he (R S Cheema) had also remained in quarantine for a week.
Garg recorded, “I informed him (Cheema) that you are a senior respected counsel and an institution in yourself from whom we all have learnt fine nuances of law... I also politely and firmly conveyed to the senior counsel that such type of attempts to overawe the judicial process on his part are not appreciable and in case he feels aggrieved by any order or direction issued by the court, he can have recourse to the legal remedies provided by law.”
After recording the entire communication, which took place between him and R S Cheema, in his order, the special judge sent a copy of the order to the district and sessions judge Panchkula for information.
Garg, however, has accepted the request of Cheema and adjourned the hearing of the case for the month of July.
The incident took place on May 3 when the case was fixed for hearing. At around 9.54 am, the court staffer of the special judge contacted a junior lawyer in advocate R S Cheema’s office and to inform the legal team that the ED would press for consideration on framing of charges as the case has been pending for a long time.
Cheema’s junior was also informed that the court intended to hear the matter in the last week of May.
On this, the junior counsel sought some time to have a consultation with Cheema and stated that she would revert on the issue shortly. Thereafter, she made a call on the mobile phone of the court’s staffer at around 10.15 am and the “conversation” then took place between Cheema and the judge.
The judge has also recorded in his five-page order that he wanted a speedy trial of the case as the Supreme Court has already asked the courts for expeditious trial of cases pending against former MLAs/MPs.
Importantly, Sushil Kumar Garg, who was recently transferred as special judge of CBI and ED cases at Panchkula has been hearing the trial regarding money laundering charges against former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and senior Congress leader Moti Lal Vora (now deceased) regarding allotment of a plot to Associated Journal Limited (AJL), which is related to the Gandhi family. Vora was chairman-cum-managing director of AJL but the case against him has been dropped because of his demise. As a special CBI judge, Garg would also be hearing other cases against Hooda in connection with the Manesar land scam