Sonu Maheshwari v. State of Punjab & Ors.

CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER. Present: Mr. H.C.Arora, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. J.S.Sidhu, Addl. Advocate General, Punjab. ***** RANJAN GOGOI, CJ. : (Oral) With the consent of the parties, final orders in this Public Interest Litigation are being passed, at this stage. The PIL-petitioner seeks a direction from the Court for proper conduct of the investigation and the prosecution of the persons who have published advertisements in the newspapers, particularly, in 'Panjab Kesari' offering kidneys to needy persons. According to the petitioner, such actions are punishable under Section 19 of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994. The petitioner has further averred that he had complained to the authorities in this regard. However, there being no corrective action on the part of such authorities, he was left with no alternative but to approach this Court by means of the present Public Interest Litigation. The respondents No.1 and 2 have filed their replies on consideration of which the Court by order dated 31.01.2012 had directed submission of a status report with regard to the investigation of the FIR registered in respect of the incident, if any. C.W.P. No. 14245 of 2011 [2] Accordingly, a status report dated 09.02.2012 has been filed which indicates that a FIR has indeed been registered and one accused Karnail Singh has been arrested. The second accused Santokh Singh is reported to be admitted in hospital and according to the Investigating Agency, the said person will be arrested no sooner he is discharged from hospital. The status report further indicates that though some other persons had been suspected to be involved in the alleged offences, no tangible material has been found against them till date. However, the newspapers have been asked to give further particulars in this regard to enable the investigation to be carried out in the right earnest. The status report further indicates that the petitioner was called to join the investigation but for reasons not known the petitioner has not co-operated in the matter. Be that as it may, as an FIR has been registered and the same is being duly investigated we do not consider it prudent to keep this Public Interest Litigation pending any longer; neither any specific orders with regard to the on-going investigation will be justified save and except that the investigation will be carried out strictly in accordance with law. Thereafter, on conclusion of the investigation, the report thereof will be submitted to the Court having jurisdiction over the matter for further action as warranted in law. In the event the report of the investigation does not satisfy the petitioner it will naturally be open for him to avail of all legal remedies. Beyond the above, we do not consider any further direction to be justified in the facts of the present case. The Public Interest Litigation, consequently, is disposed of in terms of our aforesaid observations and directions. (RANJAN GOGOI) CHIEF JUSTICE (MAHESH GROVER) JUDGE

13.02.2012 ravinder