General gets relief from SC in land case

New Delhi, March 16: The former military secretary, Lt. Gen. Avdesh Prakash, facing an Army court of inquiry (CoI) in the Sukna land scam, on Tuesday got temporary relief from the Supreme Court which in a verbal direction said till his petition is heard the probe panel should not insist on cross-examining him.

Although a bench headed by Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan made it clear that it was not passing any order on the petition of Lt. Gen. Prakash till hearing the case on March 29, the CJI told additional solicitor-general Indira Jaisingh “till we hear the matter, don’t insist on his cross-examination”.
Gen. Prakash rushed to the Supreme Court to challenge the order of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) rejecting his plea for fresh examination of witnesses against him by the CoI.
His counsel, Mr Mukul Rohtagi, submitted that on the one hand the AFT had come to the conclusion that the procedure followed by the CoI against Gen. Prakash was “bad in law and a mockery” of justice, it had refused to grant his plea for re-examining witnesses whose statements were recorded in his absence.
 

S.S. Negi