CWP No. 15208 of 2010, CWP No. 4051 of 2011, CWP No. 4055 of 2011 &CWP No. 4073 of 2011 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH 1. CWP No. 15208 of 2010 Mrs. Surjit Kaur ......Petitioner versus Sham Lal Singla and others ...Respondents 2. CWP No. 4051 of 2011 Jagjit Singh Sidhu ......Petitioner versus State Information Commission, Punjab and others ...Respondents 3. CWP No. 4055 of 2011 Jagjit Singh Sidhu ......Petitioner versus State Information Commission and others ...Respondents 4. CWP No. 4073 of 2011 Jagjit Singh Sidhu ......Petitioner versus State Information Commission, Punjab and others ...Respondents Date of Decision:-17.03.2011 CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MEHINDER SINGH SULLAR Present: Mr. Sameer Sachdeva, Advocate for the petitioner in CWP No. 15208 of 2010 Mr. L.S. Sidhu, Advocate, for the petitioners in CWP Nos. 4053, 4055 and 4073 of 2011 Mr. R.S. Rawat, A.A.G., Punjab for respondents-State **** M ehinder S ingh S ullar, J. (Oral) Learned counsel for the parties are ad idem that the controversy involved in the present writ petitions, is squarely covered and deserves to be CWP No. 15208 of 2010, CWP No. 4051 of 2011, CWP No. 4055 of 2011 &CWP No. 4073 of 2011 -2- disposed of in terms of judgment dated 04.02.2011 rendered in CWP No. 2167 of 2011 titled as Jagjit Singh v. State Information Commission Punjab & others, the operative part of which is as under:- “12.Meaning thereby, the SIC has passed the adverse impugned order, imposing the penalty of ` 7000/- on the petitioner, without issuing any show cause notice and providing any opportunity of being heard after his retirement. Therefore, to me, the impugned order is not only contrary to the statutory provisions, but against the principles of natural justice as well. In this manner, the same cannot legally be sustained on this ground alone in the obtaining circumstances of the case. 13. In the light of aforesaid reasons, and without commenting further anything on merits lest it may prejudice the case of either side during the course of subsequent hearing, the writ petitions are accepted, the impugned order Annexure P-5 is set aside. The matter is remanded back to the SIC for its fresh decision in the light of aforesaid observations, after issuing show cause notice and providing an opportunity of being heard to the parties and in accordance with law”. In this view of the matter and after hearing the learned counsel for the parties, going through the record, with their valuable assistance and after considering the entire matter deeply, the instant writ petitions are accepted. Consequently, the impugned orders are hereby set aside. The matters are remitted back to the State Information Commission, Punjab, for its fresh decision, in the light of aforesaid observation and in accordance with law. The parties through their counsels are directed to appear before State Information Commission, Punjab on 30.03.2011, for further proceedings. (Mehinder Singh Sullar) Judge March 17, 2011 G.Arora