High Court raps ‘cleverly drafted’ Sukhpal Khaira petition, orders Rs 6 lakh costs

PT News Chandigarh, May 21

PT News

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed with Rs 6 lakh costs a contempt petition filed by Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira against state officials alleging demolition of a portion of his “ancestral property”. Among other things, the Bench dubbed the petition as a “misuse of the process of court” and added that such matters consumed precious judicial time and subjected public officials to unnecessary litigation despite acting in “purported discharge of statutory obligations”. “The pleadings reveal a conscious attempt to cloak an ordinary civil and administrative dis- pute with the colour of con- tempt proceedings by selec- tively invoking the direc- tions issued by the Supreme Court (in its landmark order on demolitions),” Justice Sudeep- ti Sharma asserted. Khaira—the MLA from Bholath constituency in Kapurthala district and a former Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Legislative Assembly—had alleged that state authorities demol- ished a wall and gate form- ing part of his ancestral resi- dential property in Ramgarh village without following the procedural safeguards man- dated by the Supreme Court.