Monthly pay-off case: No stay on SFIO's proceedings, CMRL plea to be heard by Delhi High Court Chief Justice

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has transferred the petition filed by CMRL, which sought to halt further proceedings by the SFIO (Serious Fraud Investigation Office) in the monthly pay-off case, to the Chief Justice. The court noted that the petition lacks merit since the SFIO has already filed a charge sheet in Kochi. The case was referred to the Chief Justice due to the emergence of claims that Justice Subramonium Prasad had given a verbal assurance that no chargesheet would be filed.

The case will now be heard by Justice Subramonium Prasad on April 22. For now, there is no stay on the SFIO’s proceedings. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appeared on behalf of CMRL, while Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju represented the central government. The case has been under the consideration of the Delhi High Court for nearly a year. It was initially heard by Justice Naveen Chawla, followed by Justices Subramonium Prasad, C.D. Singh, and currently Justice Girish Kathpalia.

CMRL requested that the court clarify whether the investigation report has been submitted to the central government for approval and argued that no further action should be taken without such approval. The petition also demanded an inquiry into officials who allegedly leaked information from the report to the media, allegedly in violation of the court’s verbal instructions. CMRL urged the court to consider the matter urgently. However, now that the case has been transferred to the Chief Justice, the proceedings are likely to be prolonged.