New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday quashed former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh expulsion from the Assembly for his alleged involvement in a land allotment scam.
A Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan ruled that the state Assembly had no power to expel Singh and others for what was their executive action. The court also restored to Singh his Assembly seat, which was declared vacant because of his expulsion.
The bench, which also included Justice R V Raveendran, Justice P K Sathasivam, Justice J M Panchal and Justice R M Lodha, held that the Assembly should have instituted a criminal case in the matter and the ordinary law of the land should have been allowed to take its course.
It, however, said its order quashing the expulsion would not in any way interfere with the ongoing criminal probe pending against the former Chief Minister.
The former chief minister was expelled from the House on September 3, 2008, for "breach of privilege" after a resolution was passed on the basis of the report of a special committee appointed by the Punjab assembly on the alleged irregularities.
The report alleged he had granted illegal exemption to certain developers causing a loss of over several crores of rupees to the exchequer. The scam relates to grant of exemption on 32.5 acres of land in Amritsar by Singh as the Chief Minister to certain land developers allegedly in violation of the rules.
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