Sharma

New Delhi, Jan. 21: Over seven years after the Supreme Court withdrew its order imposing a fine of Rs 50 lakh on Satish Sharma in the petrol pump allotment scam, it has observed that there was “considerable force’’ in the argument that the court was not right in setting aside the penalty on the former petroleum minister.

The three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal (since retired), however, did not say whether the decision was right or wrong.

In a case pertaining to claim of compensation for denial of admission in a medical college, an argument was made that the apex court was not right in setting aside its 1996 order directing Sharma to pay Rs 50 lakh while deciding a review petition in 1999.

“Though we find considerable force in the submission of the learned counsel, in the facts and circumstances of the present case, we are not inclined to enter into (the) larger question in view of the fact that it is not necessary to do so,” the bench said in a judgment delivered earlier this month.

The court had in 1996 directed Sharma to pay Rs 50 lakh after Common Cause, an NGO, alleged that he had allotted petrol pumps arbitrarily in favour of his relatives, friends and “kiths and kins”. The court had not only cancelled the allotments but also directed Sharma to pay the fine to be deposited in the public exchequer.

On a review petition filed by Sharma, the court in 1999 recalled the order passed earlier. During the hearing of the present case, unrelated to the scam, it was contended before the court that a wrong test was applied by the judges while deciding the review petition. The bench had observed that “in case of criminal breach of trust, entrustment of property was an essential ingredient, which was not proved”.