The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt difficult a Gujarat High Court order which set a deadline for completion of trial in a 1996 drug seizure case.
A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Aravind Kumar additionally imposed a price of ₹10,000 on Mr. Bhatt for submitting a “frivolous” petition.
The prime court docket directed Mr. Bhatt to deposit the quantity with the Gujarat State Legal Services Authority.
“The petitioner rather than approaching this Court ought to have cooperated with the trial court for expeditious disposal. The grant of extension is matter for the trial court. The petition is found to be absolutely frivolous and costs of ₹10,000 are imposed,” the Bench mentioned.
‘Witnesses not examined’
Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, showing for Mr. Bhatt, submitted that various witnesses haven’t but been examined and instructions, as issued by excessive court docket, will forestall the trial court docket from deciding the matter in a considered method.
Senior advocate Maninder Singh, showing for Gujarat, argued that events in prison trial ought to be eager on swift disposal of the matter.
Mr. Bhatt, who was sacked from service in 2015, was a superintendent of police in Banaskantha district in 1996.
The district police underneath him had arrested Sumersingh Rajpurohit, a Rajasthan-based lawyer, in 1996 claiming that they had seized medicine from a lodge room in Palanpur city the place he was staying.
However, the Rajasthan police later mentioned Mr. Rajpurohit was falsely implicated by the Banaskantha police to compel him to switch a disputed property situated at Pali in Rajasthan.
Former police inspector I.B. Vyas had moved the Gujarat High Court in 1999 demanding an intensive inquiry into the case.