AMN /
The Madhya Pradesh High Court today deferred hearing of state government’s plea for handing over Vyapam scam probe to CBI till July 20. Jabalpur bench of the High Court cited pendency of PILs relating to Vyapam scandal in Supreme Court to defer the hearing.
A division bench of the MP High Court comprising Chief Justice Ajay Manikrao Khankilwar and Justice Alok Aradhe deferred the hearing on the ground that the Supreme Court is to hear a clutch of similar pleas on Thursday, Additional Advocate General (AAG) P Kaurav said.
According to Kaurav, the MP government’s plea states that following the “recent unfortunate incidents” related to Vyapam, it wants a CBI probe into the scam.
The bench said it will wait for Supreme court’s observation on the matter. It said that the Apex Court may decide on these petitions tomorrow. In its plea, the MP government has sought transfer of investigation in Vyapam scam from the Special Task Force to the CBI.
The apex Court is scheduled to hear tomorrow the plea of Congress leader Digvijay Singh and three whistle blowers seeking an apex court-monitored CBI probe into the scam.
The state Congress has lashed out at the state government after the high court hearing. The main spokesperson of the party K K Mishra said in Bhopal that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is befooling people on this matter.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said his government will urge the Supreme Court also to hand over the probe of Vyapam scam to CBI. Talking to media in New Delhi, Mr. Chouhan rejected Congress demand for his resignation and took a dig at the opposition party saying it has been demanding his resignation from the the beginning since he became Chief Minister.
Asserting that MP government is open for probe in the scam, the Chief Minister said if there are doubts about deaths, the whole investigation should be done by the CBI. Mr. Chouhan said he will also meet the family of the journalist who died during the reporting of scam.
Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in her office in connection with the preparations for the upcoming World Hindi Conference to be held in Bhopal later this year. He is also expected to hold meeting with BJP central leadership in the wake of ongoing controversy on Vyapam scam.