Committee appointed for independent enquiry into security breach issue: Supreme Court

1. The present Writ Petition arises out of the incident dated 5.01.2022 wherein on a visit to Hussainiwala District the country and takes up causes that are in public interest “(a) Take cognizance of the serious and deliberate lapse on part of the Respondent Nos. 1 2 ad 3 Direct the learned District Judge Bhatinda to collect all official documents and materials from all possible sources pertaining to the movements and deployment of Punjab Police in connection with the or direction fixing responsibility of the Respondent No. 2 and Respondent No. 3 and place them under 3. Petitioner contends that the incident constitutes a very grave 4. Given the seriousness of the subject matter and the need to security apparatus we took up the matter on the 07th January General on behalf of Union of India and Mr. D.S. Patwalia on behalf of the Petitioner the learned Solicitor General Mr. Tushar Mehta and the learned Advocate security of WP(C)No.13 2022 the Hon’ble Prime deem it appropriate for the time being to direct the Prime Minister’s scheduled tour of Punjab on 05th 3. We direct the Director General of Police Union General to be nominated by the Director General National Investigation Agency to assist the Registrar Group and any other Central State agencies to cooperate and to provide necessary assistance in 5. We direct the Registrar General Punjab and Haryana High Court to keep the records in his safe order electronically forthwith to the Registrar General Punjab and Haryana High Court the Director General of Police Union Territory of Chandigarh the Director General National Investigation Agency and the Principal Secretary Home State of Punjab been submitted wherein it has been stated that the relevant records have been received seized and secured. The same 6. On the previous date of hearing it was also brought to our carry out a thorough probe into the lapses that occurred during the Firozpur visit of the Hon’ble Prime Minister. The Committee comprised of a Former Judge of the Punjab and Justice Government of Punjab. It was urged on behalf of the constitution of an Enquiry Committee by the State was 7. The State of Punjab on the other hand has placed on record India Ministry of Home Affairs Internal Security­I Division Punjab including its Chief Secretary and Director General of within 24 hours as to why disciplinary action under the All be initiated against them for their “omissions and commissions”. The learned Advocate General for the State of India has in a way already held the officers of Government of Punjab ‘guilty’ of the alleged negligence and or breach of security of the Hon’ble Prime Minister. He maintained that discredit the State Government. All the same the learned more than willing to have an independent enquiry of the length and studied the provisions of the Special Protection Group Act 1988 along with the relevant quite comprehensive with respect to ensuring proximate security of the Prime Minister or a former Prime Minister or their family members as the case may be. The Blue Book contains an unambiguous and detailed procedure to be observed by the State Authorities and the Special Protection object is to avoid any human error negligence or any willful his visit to Firozpur on 5th January 2022 is not seriously disputed by either party. There is however a blame game between the State and Central Government as to who is 10. We therefore find merit in the submission of Shri Maninder are the Officer(s) Authority responsible for the above­stated 11. The learned Solicitor General appearing for the Union of India supported the submission of the Petitioner and prayed for a 12. Keeping the above submissions made by the parties in view we left to be resolved through one­sided enquiries. A judicially trained independent mind duly assisted by officers who are well acquainted with the security considerations and the pursuant to our earlier order would be best placed to 13. We therefore deem it appropriate to appoint an Enquiry ii. Director General or his nominee not below the rank of Inspector General of Police of National Investigation iii. Director General of Police Union Territory of Registrar General Punjab and Haryana High Court­ 14. The following are the Terms of Reference for the Enquiry ii. Who are responsible for such a breach and to what safety and security of other Constitutional Any other incidental issue that the Committee may 15. The Enquiry Committee is requested to submit its report at 16. Let the entire record seized pursuant to our order dated 7th January 2022 be handed over to the Chairperson of the They shall be provided full secretarial assistance official car 18. Till conclusion of the proceedings of the Enquiry Committee constituted above the enquiries ordered by the Central Government and the State Government shall be kept in 19. List the matter after receipt of the Report of the Enquiry

Summary:  The petitioner, an NGO named Lawyer’s Voice filed a petition in the supreme court and demanded recognition of the issue of serious security lapse and probe an independent enquiry committee to find out the reasons of the breach. The petition was brought before a supreme court bench comprising of CJI NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli in the matters between Lawyer’s voice v State of Punjab &amp; Others. WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) No. 13 OF 2022 decided on 12th January, 2022. The issue arose after an incident on 5th of January, 2022, where the convoy of the Prime Minister (PM) was stuck on a flyover for twenty minutes, while he was on visit to Hussainiwala, District Firozpur, State of Punjab. The matter was taken up on 7th of January, 2022 in the Supreme Court where the arguments were presented by Mr. Maninder Singh, Senior Advocate on behalf of the petitioner and by Mr. Tushar Mehta, SGI, on behalf of Union of India and Mr. DS Patwalia, learned advocate on behalf of State of Punjab. Before the hearing, a committee was constituted by the State of Punjab to issue a probe into the lapses that led to the PM’s security breach on his visit to the State. However, it was submitted by the petitioners that it is unfair to make the State a judge of its own actions and an independent enquiry into the issue is needed. It was submitted by the respondent’s council that the Ministry of Home Affairs and Government of India had already held the State of Punjab ‘guilty’ for this security lapse even though there was no omission of responsibility from their side. Adding to this, the state expressed its willingness for an independent enquiry. The matter was discussed at length going into the provisions of Special Protection Group Act, 1908 and the Bluebook. It was observed that the solution is not only to hold the officers responsible for this liable but also look into the seriousness of the matter and ensure that such incidents do not take place. The court ruled out that there is a need for independent enquiry into this issue and for that appointment for a committee is required. A committee comprising of Justice Indu Malhotra, a former Judge of the Supreme Court of  India­ Chairperson; Director General or his nominee not below the rank of Inspector  General of  Police of  National  Investigation Agency­ Member; Director   General   of   Police,   Union   Territory   of Chandigarh­ Member; Additional Director General of Police (Security), State of Punjab­ Member; and Registrar General, Punjab and Haryana High Court- Member ­cum ­Coordinator has been appointed by the Supreme Court to probe an independent enquiry into the breach of security issue and  to look into the causes of the breach; find out the extent of responsibleness and suggest measures which can avoid such instances. Click here to view the entire judgement.