Big relief to Akali Dal: Supreme Court quashes summoning order issued by Hoshiarpur court

Big relief to Akali Dal: Supreme Court quashes summoning order issued by Hoshiarpur court

New Delhi: In a major relief to Akali Dal, Supreme Court has quashed summoning order issued by Hoshiarpur court against Badals and Dr. Daljit Singh Cheem in case filed by Balwant Singh khera. Khera had filed petition in court seeking to deregister Akali Dal for contesting religious elections. This information was shared by Advocate Arshdeep Singh Kler President Legal Cell Akali Dal. The top court, however, clarified that it has not expressed any opinion on the SAD Constitution and, therefore, the proceedings pending before the Election Commission should not be influenced by its verdict.

The Bench – which had reserved the verdict on April 11 – delivered it three days after the demise of Parkash Singh Badal on April 25.

“Merely being religious does not mean a person cannot be secular,” the Bench had noted while reserving the verdict. The Bench had made it clear that it would not go into the larger question of whether it’s a secular or religious party and would limit its reasoning to the issuance of summonses by the trial court over alleged forgery and whether offences alleged were prima facie made out or not.

The Bench said the high court should have quashed proceedings that would have been an abuse of the process of law. “The high court ought to have quashed proceedings that would have been an abuse of process. We quash and set the impugned order including trial court summons,” it said.

The Badals had challenged the August, 2021, order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court refusing to quash the summonses issued to them by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Hoshiarpur in a private complaint filed by Balwant Singh Khera for alleged forgery, cheating and concealment of facts.

In his 2009 complaint, Khera alleged that the SAD had two constitutions — one submitted to the Gurdwara Election Commission for registration as a party to manage gurdwaras and the other to the Election Commission to seek recognition as a political party. He alleged that it amounted to cheating.