Apex court overturns SK Sinha’s order
The Appellate Division in the full text of a verdict overturned an order delivered by a Supreme Court bench, led by former chief justice SK Sinha, that directed the ACC to take action against its officials for frequently asking for wealth statements of suspects.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, cleared the Anti-Corruption Commission's way for exercising its powers and issuing multiple notices seeking wealth statements of suspects.
It said six years ago the previous bench had failed to take into consideration the relevant laws and rules, resulting in an "erroneous decision".
Findings and observations made in that order are hereby expunged, the bench said in the 11-page full text of the verdict released yesterday.
The other three judges of the bench are: Justice Borhanuddin, Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Krishna Debnath.
The SC bench delivered a short judgement on this issue on June 30 following the review petition filed by the ACC.
On November 24, 2016, the SC bench led by Justice SK Sinha ordered the ACC chairman to take legal action against its officials, if they harassed people by frequently asking for their wealth statements.
The order was issued following a petition filed by a garments trader who had been served three notices by the ACC, between 2010 and 2011, for wealth statement even though he had complied with the first two notices.
The apex court in the full text yesterday observed that "… there is no room to say that issuance of such notice by the commission or its authorised officer is harassing, malafide and prejudiced to the concerned person[s]".
The top court said that the section 19 of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act-2004 empowers the commission to do anything prescribed for carrying out its purpose.
"We have no hesitation to hold that this procedure of enquiry by the commission is very fair, transparent and accountable and this procedure is for the benefit of the person[s] against whom an enquiry is going on."
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