New Delhi: The Bhajanlal Sharma government in Rajasthan has decided to withdraw a suit filed in the Supreme Court by the previous Ashok Gehlot government in which the latter had questioned the Delhi Police’s jurisdiction to investigate the alleged phone-tapping incident involving Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Filed Saturday, the state’s three-page application, while clarifying it is “bonafide”, asks the apex court to let it withdraw the original suit filed under Article 131 of the Constitution.
Sources in the Rajasthan government’s legal team told ThePrint that the application was filed on the advice of the state’s additional advocate general Shiv Mangal Sharma, who opined that there was no merit in the suit.
An Article 131 suit is filed in the Supreme Court to settle a legal dispute between the Centre and state. In the present case, the erstwhile Gehlot government had moved the suit seeking a declaration from the Supreme Court that the Rajasthan Police and not the Delhi Police have the jurisdiction to investigate offences arising out of the alleged phone-tapping.
But the withdrawal application now filed states that “the government of Rajasthan after deliberate discussions has taken a conscious decision to withdraw the present suit”.
In case the top court allows Rajasthan to withdraw its application, it would give the Delhi Police a free hand to probe the alleged phone-tapping incident.
The Delhi Police case that gave rise to Rajasthan’s Article 131 suit was registered in March 2021, after Shekhawat, then the Jal Shakti minister at the Centre, accused Gehlot’s officer on special duty (OSD) Lokesh Sharma, of unlawfully intercepting his telephonic conversation in July 2020.
Shekhawat, a BJP leader, was embroiled in a controversy soon after the formation of the Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan in 2018.
Audio clips of his alleged conversation with Congress leaders had surfaced amid a rebellion against Gehlot in 2020 by his then deputy Sachin Pilot and 18 party MLAs supporting him.
On the basis of these audio clips, the chief whip of the Congress had then lodged complaints with Rajasthan’s Special Operations Group (SOG) and the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB).
The Delhi Police’s Crime Branch took over the investigation and summoned Sharma for questioning. However, Sharma moved the Delhi High Court with a request to quash the FIR registered at Shekhawat’s behest, and got protection from arrest. He appeared before the Crime Branch in December 2021 and was reportedly questioned for four hours.
While the Delhi Police carried on with their probe, the Rajasthan government filed a suit in the Supreme Court on 18 October, 2023. Rajasthan claimed that the investigation by the Delhi Police was without jurisdiction and in breach of federalism.
It asked the Supreme Court to declare that in the said case, Rajasthan had the jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute all matters related to the contents of the FIR registered by the Crime Branch.
However, the Rajasthan government’s suit never got listed for hearing in the open court. Its first listing was on 11 December, 2023, before a chamber judge. By that time, the government in Rajasthan had changed with Gehlot losing power to the BJP. Thereafter, the matter was heard again by a chamber judge on 16 January, 2024, and then again on 5 February.
During the 5 February hearing, the counsel for Rajasthan took time to obtain instructions as to whether the state would like to pursue the original suit. After two more hearings before a chamber judge – on 7 March and 24 April – the state decided to withdraw its suit.
According to the opinion given by the state’s additional advocate general, following which the withdrawal application was filed, “no effective purpose will be served by pursuing the suit any longer”. Therefore, he felt that in the interest of justice, the state should not contest or continue the said suit. This, the law officer added, would also “save precious time” of the top court.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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